As soon as eighth period began, a queue of students in business casual attire formed outside of the cafeteria for the Science and Engineering Fair. As they waited for judges to arrive, many participants rehearsed their presentations of the experiments they had conducted over the last several months.

“Science fair is one of the most stressful parts of TJ, but it’s also one of the most rewarding,” junior Manotri Chaubal said.

The fair took place on Feb. 6. Though the participants were required to start setting up during A Block, the judging didn’t begin until 4:15, lasting well into the evening. The fair itself was divided up into 17 categories, including Environmental Sciences, Microbiology and Computer Science for the judges to evaluate by predetermined guidelines.

The awards ceremony was later, held on Feb. 8 during A Block. Each student who placed received a medal and took a picture with the other winners in their categories.

The first place winners are as follows:

In the Behavioral & Social Sciences category, juniors Daniel Abraham and Sarah Quettawala won first place.

Seniors Marilyn Arwood, Tom Beekhuysen, Ian McConnell and Sarthak Sahu placed first in Physics and Astronomy.

Sophomore Sreya Atluri earned first place in Energy and Transportation.

In Microbiology, senior Men Cheol Jeong and juniors Arjun Balaji and Joohwan Kimwon first place.

In Mathematics, juniors Rohan Banerjee and Archis Bhandarkar won first place.

In Animal Sciences, seniors Yihemba Yikona and Arusha Reghu and sophomores Emily Rogers, Caroline Hatanpaa and Edi Danalache won first place.

In Engineering: Mathematics and Bioengineering, Samuel Rohrer and Jayanth Devanathan won first place.

In Engineering: Electricity and Mechanics, juniors Samuel Rohrer won first place.

Seniors Kyler Blodgett and Samantha Hoegle placed first in Plant Sciences.

In Earth & Planetary Sciences, senior Alec Brenner won first place.

In Chemistry, seniors Kirsten Cardinal, Caroline Kerr, and Thomas Lee earned a first place award.

Seniors Thrisha Potluri and Arya Dahal and junior Andrea Li garnered a first place award in Biochemistry.

Senior Katie Hsia and juniors Kunal Khurana and Manotri Chaubal won first place in Cellular & Molecular Biology.

In Computer Science, seniors Lauren Huang and Avinash Ramesh placed first.

In Medicine & Health, senior Zacharia Hosseinipour and juniors Sindhura Kolachana and Rahul Ramraj placed first.

Juniors Maria Kanevsky and Kinsey Moser placed first in Environmental Sciences and freshman Valentina Lohr placed first in Environmental Management.

Invitations to move on to Regionals were sent out today, and the final list of regional finalists will be released next week. The students who will be moving on to the regional fair will be announced later this week, and the regional science fair will be held from March 15-17 at Robinson Secondary School in Burke.

(Look for full list of placers in Kudos bar as well as in the print issue of tjTODAY later this month.)