Tate Plohr, Lilia Viteva and Alyssa Sun represented Los Alamos High School in the Senior Division at the Los Alamos County Science Fair. Courtesy/LAPS

The Best of Show for Junior Division in Life Science was awarded to Daniel Yampolsky and Zachary White, both 6th graders at Barranca Mesa Elementary School. Courtesy/LAPS

LAPS News:

Budding scientists from across the district converged on Barranca Mesa Elementary School for the 2025 Los Alamos County Science Fair., competing for top honors in the elementary, junior and senior divisions.

Thirty-six students qualified for the 2025 Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science Fair, which will be hosted by New Mexico Highlands University March 22.

Los Alamos High School junior Alyssa Sun was awarded Senior Division Best of Show in the Life Science category for her project, “Know-It-All Networks on Pneumonia”.

In the Physical Science category, Helena Welch received Senior Division Best of Show for her project, “Analyzing Pre-Indo-European Etruscan Theory Using Topological Data Analysis”.

Best of Show in the Junior Division in the Life Science category was awarded to Barranca Mesa Elementary 6th graders Zachary White and Daniel Yampolsky for their project, “How Stimuli Affect Micro organisms”.

Kalliope Welch received Best of Show in the Physical Science category for her project, “Modeling Fast-Moving Objects As They Travel Through Crowded Astronomical Neighborhoods”.

Best of Show honors in the Elementary Division were awarded to:

• Henry Junghans, a Barranca Mesa Elementary School 2th grader, in Earth Science for his project, “What weather app is the best?”;
• Eleanora Minko, a Mountain Elementary 4th grader, in Life Science for her project, “Zest Quest: Which citrus fruit has the most essential oil?”; and
• Mountain Elementary 5th grader Ernest Maupin in Physical Science for his project, “Sweet but Explosive Soda”.

Best of Show for Class Projects was awarded to

• Esther Smidt’s kindergarten class from Mountain Elementary School for their project, “Pinewood Derby Speed”.

Over 100 judges were on hand to evaluate this year’s projects. Head judges for the Science Fair were Cathy Snelson and Jonas Kintner. Co-head judges were Ellen Syracuse, Ting Chen and Neala Creasy.

County Science Fair Directors Eva Abeyta and Davine Jones, along with Assistant Director Pamela Miller “played a major role behind the success of the Science Fair,” Assistant Superintendent Carter Payne said during the elementary and junior/senior award ceremonies held in the Barranca Mesa school gym Saturday evening. “Your hard work has not gone unnoticed.”

Assistant Superintendent Payne also thanked the members of the 2025 Science Fair committee: Amy Gilbert and Emily Christensen, Aspen Elementary; Candice Kuykendall, Barranca Mesa Elementary; Drew Kirian, Chamisa Elementary; Mary Alice Hawkins, Mountain Elementary; Jennifer Naes, Piñon Elementary; Maria Musgrave, Los Alamos Middle School; Jacqueline Griego, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy; and Michela Ombelli, Los Alamos High School. “Without their hard work and dedication, we would not have been able to put on a successful County Science Fair,” he said.

Over 69 students shared close to $6,000 in cash and prizes provided by community sponsors including the AAUW (American Association of University Women), ASM International, Barranca Mesa PTO, Bradbury Science Museum, Cheryl Pongratz, Chris Judson, IEEE Los Alamos Northern New Mexico, Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, Los Alamos Elks Lodge BPOE 2083, Los Alamos Garden Club, Los Alamos Master Gardeners, Los Alamos Medical Center, Los Alamos Middle School PTO, Los Alamos Symphony Orchestra, and Pajarito Astronomers.

All participants received a t-shirt courtesy of the Barranca PTO, Bradbury Science Museum, Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, Los Alamos Elks Lodge BPOE 2083, and Los Alamos Medical Center.

2025 Los Alamos County Science Fair Awards

Best of Show for Elementary Division

• Earth Science: Henry Junghans, Barranca Mesa Elementary School Life Science: Eleanora Minko, Mountain Elementary School Physical Science: Ernest Maupin, Mountain Elementary School.

Best of Show for Class Projects

• Grades K – 2: Ms. Smidt’s Kindergarten class, Mountain Elementary School

Best of Show for Junior Division

• Life Science: Zachary White and Daniel Yampolsky, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
  Physical Science: Kalliope Welch, Homeschool

Best of Show for Senior Division

• Life Science: Alyssa Sun, Los Alamos High School Physical Science: Helena Welch, Homeschool

Elementary Division Awards

Elementary Class Projects K-2

• 1st Place: Ms. Smidt Kindergarten, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Mrs. Cloran 2nd Grade Class, Barranca Mesa Elementary School

Earth Science

• 1st Place: Henry Junghans, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Alexander Yampolsky, Barranca Mesa Elementary School

Life Science

• 1st Place: Eleanora Minko, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Christopher Martinez, Aspen Elementary School
• 3rd Place: Pierce Davis, Mountain Elementary School

Physical Science

• 1st Place: Ernest Maupin, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Glyn Lo, Mountain Elementary School
• 3rd Place: Arwen Bishofberhger, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• Honorable Mention: Renee Ramsey, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy
• Honorable Mention: Noah Mendez, Chamisa Elementary School

Junior Division Awards

Animal Science

• 1st Place: Miranda Coffey, Chamisa Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Julia Neale and Chelsea Nguyen, Los Alamos Middle School

Biochemistry

• 1st Place: James Junghans, Barranca Mesa Elementary School

Chemistry

• 1st Place: Evelyn Fobes, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Clara Nichols, Piñon Elementary School
• 3rd Place: Isabella Martinez, Los Alamos Middle School
• Honorable Mention: Samuel Cawkwell, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• Honorable Mention: Alice Barnhart, Mountain Elementary School

Computer Science

• 1st Place: Sequoya Ke, Los Alamos Middle School

Earth and Planetary Science

• 1st Place: Julian Delorey, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Jacqueline Reardon, Mountain Elementary School

Energy and Transportation

• 1st Place: Mason Garcia, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Rebecca Champenois, Mountain Elementary School

Engineering: Electrical & Mechanical

• 1st Place: Zora Allbach, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy
• 2nd Place: Andrew Gilbertson, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• 3rd Place: Dante Lopez, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy
• Honorable Mention: Benjamin Blea, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy

Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering

• 1st Place: James Work, Los Alamos Middle School

Environmental Sciences

• 1st Place: Eric Xu, Barranca Mesa Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Benjamin Minko, Los Alamos Middle School

Mathematical Science

• 1st Place – Liam Colgan, Barranca Mesa Elementary School

Medicine and Health Science

• 1st Place: Alice Altschuler, Mountain Elementary School
• 2nd Place: Javier Chacon, Brandon Keller joint project, Los Alamos Middle School
• 3rd Place: Justin Lei and Al-Aziz N’daw, Mountain Elementary School

Microbiology

• 1st Place: Zachary White and Daniel Yampolsky, Barranca Mesa Elementary School

Physics and Astronomy

• 1st Place: Kalliope Welch, Homeschool
• 2nd Place: Dawson Belobrajdic, Chamisa Elementary School
• 3rd Place: Meredith Clayton, Chamisa Elementary School
• Honorable Mention: Wesley Allen, Piñon Elementary School

Senior Division Awards

Environmental Management

• 1st Place: Lilia Viteva, Los Alamos High School

Mathematical Science

• 1st Place: Helena Welch, Homeschool

Medicine and Health

• 1st Place: Alyssa Sun, Los Alamos High School

Physics and Astronomy

• 1st Place: Tate Plohr, Los Alamos High School

Best of Show in the Elementary Division are Ernest Maupin, Mountain Elementary School, in Physical Science; Henry Junghans, Barranca Mesa Elementary School in Earth Science and Eleanora Minko, Mountain Elementary School, in Life Science. Courtesy/LAPS

Students who competed in the Elementary Division pose with their awards following the ceremony held at Barranca Mesa Elementary School. Courtesy/LAPS

Students representing the Junior Division gathered for a photo following the ceremony. Courtesy/LAPS

The success of the Los Alamos County Science Fair would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of the judges, the directors and the Science Fair committee, including from left, County Science Fair Director Davine Jones; Assistant County Science Fair Director Pamela Miller; County Science Fair Director Eva Abeyta; Michela Ombelli, Los Alamos High School; Candice Kuykendall, Barranca Mesa Elementary School; Mary Alice Hawkins, Mountain Elementary School; Emily Christensen, Aspen Elementary School; Jacqueline Griego, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy; Amy Gilbert, Aspen Elementary; Jennifer Naes, Piñon Elementary; Maria Musgrave, Los Alamos Middle School and Drew Kirian, Chamisa Elementary School. Courtesy/LAPS