WINNER
Aditi Jha, age 16, Nidhi Malpani, age 16, and Yasmina Muradova, age 16 duPont Manual High School, Louisville, KY; Westwood High School, Austin, TX; and The Gatton Academy, Bowling Green, KY Many people experience addiction in their lives—drugs, alcohol, self-harm, the Internet, etc. As a common experience among all walks of life, it has touched...
FINALIST
Paulina Caceres, age 17, and Alexis Nicoleau, age 17 Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami, FL Teacher: Eric Hankin Covid-19 has affected the way people move from one place to another. The Pod is made for those who have trouble accessing medical assistance. It provides medical services without the need to travel to a hospital...
FINALIST
Allison Casey, age 14 La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla, CA People at highest risk for Covid-19 infection, aside from seniors, tend to live in low-income communities and have less access to Covid-19 resources than those in wealthier communities due to barriers such as language, technology, information, and transportation. This makes it difficult for...
HONORABLE MENTION
Sam Abuchaibe, age 18, and Samantha Azcuy-Batet, age 18 Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami, FL Teacher: Eric Hankin It’s difficult to live a healthy life, physically and mentally, without being connected to nature. Quarantining further isolates and distances people from nature, which leads to many health issues. Hortus, our mobile healing garden, transforms old...
HONORABLE MENTION
Nitya Ayyagari, age 17 Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA Parkinson’s disease is the leading cause of disability worldwide. I observed the debilitating symptoms that come with the disease while volunteering at my local memory care center, namely Freezing of Gait (FoG), a condition that occurs when patients with Parkinson’s have trouble balancing that may...
HONORABLE MENTION
Sarah Basil, age 16 Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ Teacher: Scott Lang Modern telemedicine is used to reduce the risk of contracting infectious diseases, but the drawback is that the main diagnostic skills such as listening to the heart and lungs, are not possible, making it difficult to get an accurate and immediate diagnosis. This...
HONORABLE MENTION
Katherine Bell, age 16 Phillips Academy Andover, Andover, MA Many cosmetic, skincare, and cleaning products contain scrubbing particles called microbeads, which are small plastic fragments ranging in size from roughly five micrometers to one millimeter. They accumulate in the oceans in the form of microplastic, endangering both marine life and humans as it enters our...
HONORABLE MENTION
Paige Dalton, age 17, and Abigail Naidich, age 16 Academy of Allied Health and Science, Neptune City, NJ Teacher: Melissa Pitman Risk-inducing ingredients are in everyday essentials and cleaning items, a challenge for those exposed to harmful chemicals. In a class-action lawsuit with Tresemmé, we see the consequences of the hair loss chemical DMDM hydantoin...
HONORABLE MENTION
Akaash Doshi, age 16 La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla, CA Teacher: Luna Kim Door handles in public spaces receive high amounts of traffic, allowing for an easy spread of germs, including Covid-19, from person-to-person through indirect contact. Frequently, the only way to exit a bathroom is by directly touching and pulling the door...