By Lori BODNAR, intern

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Crescenta Valley High School as one of the top high schools in the United States. This is unsurprising, given the high caliber of students who recently won science honors and recognition at the county, regional, state, national and even international levels. Crescenta Valley High School Academy of Science and Medicine students earned high honors at the Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair, California State Science Fair, Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA), and SkillsUSA State Championship Career Pathway Showcase competitions.

The Academy of Science and Medicine is a career-pathway program at CVHS for students interested in science, medicine or health care. Academy students placed highly at the 71^st annual Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair (LACSEF), held virtually during the week of March 15-19. The LACSEF nurtures an interest in science and engineering by providing a yearly setting for middle and high school students to demonstrate innovative and investigative skills while competing for medals, special awards and scholarships.

Local winners include CVHS Academy student Angelica Agahsi who won first place at LACSEF for her project in behavioral and social science, titled “National Football League Positions with the Most Cases of Neurodegenerative Diseases.”

Freshmen Mahesh Arunachalam and Debayon Roy won second place for their team project in pharmacology, “Developing a Prevention Method for Inflammation-Induced Organ Damage Through Targeted Vitamin D Delivery.” Thalia Miller won third place in biochemistry and molecular biology for her project, “Effect of Fibroblast-Like Synoviocytes on Rheumatoid Arthritis.” Michelle Chung won third place in plant biology and physiology for her project, “Identification and Characterization of Minerals that Inhibit or Promote Seed Germination.”

Other CVHS students received honorable mention or additional recognition at LACSEF.

Marta Pambukhchyan, a CVHS sophomore and Academy student, won first place for her project in environmental management, “Leachate-Filtering Efficacy of Varied Liners.” Pambukhchyan qualified to compete at the California State Science Fair (CSSF) and was then selected as one of the few students to compete internationally at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Judging for the ISEF this year was held via videoconferencing the week of May 3-7, and winners and recognition will be announced the week of May 16-21. Nearly 2,000 students from over 70 countries and territories compete at ISEF for over $4 million in scholarships, tuition grants, internships and scientific field trips, including grand prizes of $50,000 or $75,000 college scholarships.

“My science project revolved around landfills,” said Pambukhchyan. “In landfills, liners are used to separate the waste from the soil and groundwater underneath it, so that leachate (contaminated water) won’t be able to leak through and pollute the environment and groundwater. Inside one of the liners is a powder that is supposed to filter the leachate and release clean water. I investigated different kinds of basic powders that can be used in landfills and sought which performs best in neutralizing acidic substances.”

She added that she had worked on her project for eight months.

“My favorite part of my project was gathering results,” she said. “It’s very reassuring in science to know your experimentation process is successful. At LACSEF, I enjoyed being able to see the different students of all grades coming together to present their scientific work. Although some connection problems occurred during the actual interviews for the virtual LACASEF, everything else, including the awards ceremony, was nicely constructed!”

Mahesh Arunachalam explained his project, which won second place. “Our science project was about developing a prevention method for inflammation induced organ damage through targeted Vitamin D delivery. [Mahesh and partner Debayon] wanted to come up with an idea that could help with treatments during the current pandemic.”

He added that the online setting made it harder for the pair to meet up and discuss or gain help or resources.

“We could also not do any in-person testing that we had planned,” he added. 

“Our project specifically focused on finding out the root linkage between COVID-19 and organ damage, and how organ damage could be prevented,” said Roy. “I had participated in the LA County Science and Engineering Fair before and it was completely different then what we went through this year. There were many technical difficulties along with the challenge of not having access to labs or equipment to run an actual experiment. All-in-all, although the fair was much more difficult this year, it made it more rewarding.”

CVHS Academy members also participated in Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) competitions and have moved on to represent CVHS internationally. HOSA is a career and technical student organization for students who plan to be health care professionals. HOSA sponsors a research poster, HOSA Bowl, and medical terminology competition.

In the HOSA research poster competition, Manra Roointan placed gold and is the California State champion. Roointan is advancing to the International Competition, ILC to represent Crescenta Valley High School and the United States.

Michelle Chung placed silver with her research poster and is also moving on to the International Competition, ILC. The HOSA research poster competition invites students to think critically about a health-related issue in their community, pose research questions surrounding the topic, conduct research and develop a poster to showcase their findings.

HOSA also sponsors the HOSA Bowl competition. CVHS juniors Megan Parada, Ashley Park, Eric Markarian and Kevin Dong won a gold medal and are moving on to the International Competition, ILC on June 23-26. The HOSA Bowl provides the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills on various topics and situations in health, plus parliamentary procedure. The event inspires students to be proactive future health professionals and to work as a team.

CVHS student Liana Kazarian won silver in the HOSA medical terminology event and will be advancing to the International Competition, ILC. Fourth place winner was Julia Chin, a CVHS student in sports medicine. The HOSA medical terminology competition provides students with knowledge and skills relating to anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology and prefixes, suffixes, and roots used in the medical health field.

In addition to awards in the HOSA competitions, CVHS Academy members also performed well at the SkillsUSA state championship. In the Career Pathway Showcase in natural resources/ agriculture/ food cluster, Michelle Chung, Marta Pambukhchyan, and Neil Breckow won gold for their research project on Leachate-Filtering Efficacy of Liners in Landfills.

In the Health Services Cluster, Mantra Roointan, Seon-Jae Yoon, and Angelica Agahsi won gold with their research project on the “Identification of Parkinson Disease Treatment Using Molecular Docking.” All six gold medalists in the Career Pathway Showcase are enrolled in the science research class at CVHS.

“Our project is about how we used molecular modeling to show and support a drug, called opicapone, being the current most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease. It was also about how collaboration, modeling and research analysis can be applied to different health care careers such as clinical research, biomedical research, and medical biotechnology. Our presentation came about because of our interest in clinical pharmacology and drug research. The idea for this project came from Mantra, who did the initial process (from the background research to the modeling) and we all came together to create a presentation to display the findings,” Yoon said.

Most of the Academy students are planning on pursuing careers in the science field including in the fields of dermatology and neurology, and as a medical doctor, medical researcher, geneticist or neurologist.