Lufkin ISD Students Advance to Texas Science and Engineering Fair

Congratulations are in order for eight 'STEM 4' students from Lufkin ISD who will be advancing to the Texas State Science and Engineering Fair after competing at the Regional Science and Engineering Fair that was held in Kilgore on February 10. Four individual projects and two group projects made the cut and cover the following categories:

• Systems Software
• Engineering
• Biochemistry
• Plant Sciences
• Microbiology
• Earth & Environment

“LHS STEM students have worked tirelessly for months to research, experiment, and develop presentations,” said Jennifer Stover, STEM 4 Instructor. “The hard work has paid off, and now they look forward to representing Lufkin at the Texas State Science and Engineering Fair. I am so very proud of them!”

The East Texas Regional Science and Engineering Fair consisted of students from 30 counties, including Delta County, San Augustine County, Marion County, Franklin County, Rains County, Sabine County, Morris County, Camp County, Red River County, Madison County, Leon County, Houston County, Panola County, Shelby County, Cass County, Wood County, Titus County, Hopkins County, Rusk County, Anderson County, Lamar County, Upshur County, Cherokee County, Henderson County, Nacogdoches County, Van Zandt County, Harrison County, Angelina County, Bowie County, Gregg County and Smith County.

Schools with counties such as Polk, Trinity, and Tyler participated in the Houston regional event.

The students who advanced at regionals will go on to compete on the Texas A&M University campus at the Texas State Science and Engineering Fair on March 24 – 25.

Suzy Jungmann, the STEM Coordinator for the district, has worked with these students since they began their STEM Academy journey their freshman year of high school. The STEM Academy is a partnership and cohort program between Lufkin High School and Stephen F. Austin State University, aimed at enriching the high school experience for students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics college study and careers. The STEM Academy offers students additional STEM elective courses taught on the high school campus, as well as laboratory/field experiences led by SFA professors. The culmination of the program is a research project that STEM 4 students submit to the regional science fair.

“It has been rewarding to watch these seniors grow into the young adults they are today.  They are the definition of dedication, perseverance, and success. Success comes down to our attitude, effort, focus and action. These experiences have prepared them for what lies ahead in their educational journey,” said Suzy Jungmann, STEM Coordinator.

LHS STEM 4 Students advancing to state are: Anson Adams, Alex Haney, Hannah Spikes, Sree Karnati, Alyssa Kitchens, Jeslin Koruth, Hallie Kruse and Carlos Perez. Two Specialty Awards were also given out to STEM students.

The LMS Specialty Award was given to Graham Wood and Joel Barrera-Zamarripa for their project Comparing Alkalinity of Different Sources of Water (Earth and Environment).

The LHS Specialty Award was given to Julia Cabrera and Adrian Roman for their project Recreating the Plate Gill Filter used by Manta Rays (Mobula birostris) to Filter out Microplastics from Local Waterways (Engineering).