The STEAM and Service Fair is an annual Prep tradition in which Prep students are given the opportunity to showcase their talents in science and engineering. Under normal circumstances, students would display their projects on poster boards in the Prep gymnasium. However, due to the pandemic, the fair was held virtually. Each participant created a digital poster board and filmed a short video describing their project. The community was able to view the projects on the Prep website.

Despite these unusual circumstances, students were still able to create outstanding projects. I spoke with Andrew Kim ‘23 about his project and his experience participating in the STEAM and Service Fair. His project studied the effects of phosphorus and temperature on the growth of a common type of algae called chlorella vulgaris. “The algal blooms of chlorella vulgaris can be toxic to the marine ecosystem and their growth may be accelerated by fertilizer runoff, which contains a lot of phosphorus,” he said, “so we wanted to see what effect this had on the growth of the algae.”

The COVID-19 pandemic created many unique challenges for students conducting scientific research. Andrew Kim ‘23 explained some of the COVID-related problems that he and his partner, Conner Siou ‘23, had to overcome. Their first issue came when they were ordering materials for their experiment. “We ordered algae from a company on the East Coast, but our shipment never came!” he said. “So, we had to find an alternative in San Diego.” Another issue that affected Andrew, and everyone else who conducted a more hands-on experiment, was limited access to lab space. “We were forced to grow algae without a proper lab space, so we needed to create a controlled environment inside our homes,” he recalled. While this proved to be challenging, nothing was able to stop these Prep students from completing their amazing projects!

The STEAM and Service Fair didn’t just showcase science projects, however. What sets Prep’s fair apart from any other science fair is its inclusion of community service projects. Each year, the eighth grade class completes a Community Impact Project, or CIP, where students spend the first semester working on a project to help their community. Dagny Marion ‘25, third place winner in the STEAM category, did a project entitled “The Neighborhood Library.” For her CIP, she built her own miniature library in her neighborhood. Dagny’s project is just one example of the many highly impactful and sustainable projects completed by the eighth grade class.

In addition to viewing the science and CIP projects, the Prep community had the opportunity to attend virtual workshops hosted by students and faculty. Ms. Manfull hosted a tutorial on how to construct kirigami models, a variation of origami that uses scissors. Another highlight of the evening was the Science Club’s live dissection of a goat kidney.

This year’s STEAM and Service Fair proved to be a smashing success, despite its virtual format. Congratulations to everyone who worked very hard all semester to create their incredible projects!

2021 STEAM and Service Fair Winners

Thomas-Kaufman Award 

Ashwin Sivakumar for “Is the Introduced Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in California an Ecological Substitute for the Extinct California Turkey (Meleagris californica)?

Science Fair: General Science Category 

1st Place: Matthew Wang

2nd Place: Aaron Lee

3rd Place: Alec Guthrie

Science Fair: Botany Category

1st Place: Maylin Chen

2nd Place: Sarah Bougdanos & Anya Rose

3rd Place: Andrew Kim & Conner Siou

Community Impact Project: Relief 

1st Place: Josephine Fellows

2nd Place: Jenna Moutes

3rd Place: Addie Gish

Community Impact Project: STEAM

1st Place: Carl Li

2nd Place: Arno Terzian

3rd Place: Dagny Marion

Community Impact Project: Youth

1st Place: Steinunn Liorsdottir

2nd Place: Ellie Sohn

3rd Place: Natalie Walklett

Honorable Mentions

William Boyd, Isabelle Du, Ashlyn Choi, Elise Fong, Wyatt Fishman, Katie Essilfie, Nicho Dermovesian, Izzie Kim, Daniel Choi, Noah Son, Charlotte Fishman, Meena Durairaj, Maddie Geeting, Anahit Kazanchian, Aidan Howard, Oscar Yum, Gia Moutes, Sophia Zhong

8th Grade Presentation Awards

Elise Fong, Celeste Davila, Katie Essilfie, Nicho Dermovsesian, Ruby Kilkpatrick, Michelle Geller, Anahit Kazanchian, Carl Li, Ellie Sohn, Arno Terzian, Dagny Marion, Sophia Zhong

ACL Award

Jenna Moutes