For the sixth year in a row, a student from Windsor High School will represent Vermont at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) next month.
And for the second consecutive spring, to the surprise of no one who teaches, studies or follows science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at the school, sophomore Vincent Moeykens will carry the Windsor flag.
“He’s self-motivated,” biology teacher Catherine Engwall, adviser to the Windsor team that won the Vermont state science fair at Norwich University last month, said last week. “He’s bright and kind. Just a great kid and student.
“He’s going places.”
The next place is Phoenix, Ariz., for the ISEF, where Moeykens, who also captains the Windsor team that last month successfully defended its title at the Vermont 3D architecture competition, looks forward to again comparing notes with other self-motivated kids.
“The thing I enjoyed most last year was being able to meet students from all over the world that shared a common interest in STEM,” Moeykens wrote during an exchange of emails last week. “I was able to talk to people from countries like Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, France and many, many others. I was also able to share my interests in STEM by sharing ideas and having discussions about our projects.”
Last year, with project partner Benjamin Meagher, Moeykens presented what he describes as their “solution to home-cloud computing — that is, a Google drive that is stored in your home.”
Following up on that technology, Moeykens punched his ticket for this year’s international fair with a project that uses open-source software to monitor and adjust the temperature at his home from a remote computer.
In addition to propelling him to another trip to the international fair, the state-fair-winning project earned Moeykens a $200 award for excellence in computer science, a field that he expects to pursue in college.
Among four other awards that Moeykens won at the science fair was a gold medal from the Vermont Principals Association, a prize that Windsor junior Megan Roberts also earned. Meanwhile, silver medals went to Windsor High sophomore Lysle Nelson and State Street School sixth-graders Eliot Rupp and Karen Kapuscinski.
In addition to earning a gold medal, Roberts and teammates Will Jaarsma and Brooke Winter finished among the top five junior competitors at the fair to win $20,000 scholarships to attend Norwich University. Roberts also earned an award from the American Psychological Association and a trip to Washington, D.C., for winning a science award from Intel.
Freshman Brooke McKeen won prizes from the Green Mountain Water Environment Association, the American Meteorological Society and the Association of Women Geologists. Sophomore Ben Millard earned a $300 award from AllEarth Renewables and Will Jaarsma joined Moeykens in winning an award from the U.S. Navy and Marines.
Moeykens and his teammates are the latest in a line of high achievers in STEM subjects at Windsor. Current senior Casey Husband, a past participant in the state science fair, this year is focusing on launching Lazarus Defense, a company that will manufacture detachable backpacks for emergency responders to carry medical supplies to treat victims of mass shootings. The start-up grew out of his capstone project, which all Windsor seniors must complete to qualify for graduation (see vnews.com/News/Business/One-Serious-Backpack-1281778 ).
Before Moeykens and Ben Meagher qualified for the international fair in Pittsburgh last spring, Windsor students Abby Millard and Gailin Pease represented Vermont in Los Angeles in 2014. Millard went with teammates Rachel Meagher and Jaime Nolari to Phoenix in 2013, before which Kellie French and Win Townsend made the trip to Pittsburgh in 2012, and Nikki White traveled to Los Angeles in 2011. Also, Ashley Sicard went to the international fair in Phoenix in 2005.
Engwall credits Windsor High math teacher Jen Townsend with encouraging Windsor students’ interests in pursuing STEM subjectsand with starting a local science fair that “started out small and each year, it’s gotten more rigorous.” Moeykens said that his teachers, both at the high school and at State Street School, encouraged him and his classmates from the beginning.
“Quite a few of the students I meet from other schools do not know how well Windsor does at things like the science fair and other STEM events,” Moeykens wrote. “Many students do not even know where Windsor is in Vermont. I believe that we do so well because of the support from our teachers.”
Aaron Day, the design and technology teacher who co-advises Windsor’s 3D-architecture team along with Susan Rooker of the American Precision Museum in Windsor, finds that students like Moeykens motivate him as well as his peers. At the start of the 2015-2016 school year, the 3D team elected Moeykens as its captain.
“Vincent works very hard at studying and creating new technologies both in school and independently,” Day said. “He understands that new technologies are more exciting when they have been created as opposed to consumed. I believe that his teammates recognize this quality in him.”
The project with which Windsor won the 3D-architecture contest last month was a model of the former state prison in Windsor. Moeykens and sophomore Brianna Diggs, seventh-grader Maurice Day, eighth-grader Asa Gaddis, freshman Serene Martens and freshman Alexander Townsend began by touring the building, then researched its history, interviewed former employees of the prison, and then used the SketchUp program to create 3D models of the current buildings and the original 1809 building.
The winning project is viewable at windsor3dprinting.com.
For Vincent Moeykens, it’s all part of a continuum.
“The earliest I remember being interested in science was kindergarten,” Moeykens said. “I loved trying to figure out how things worked, and making my own discoveries.”
Bradford Elementary School and Bethel Elementary School recently earned recognition from the Vermont state Treasurer’s Office for encouraging students to ramp up their reading while learning how to better handle their money.
Bradford Elementary students Aden Moore and Ashton Taylor were among the 20 students around the state to win a $250 college-savings account from the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. Their names were chosen from among the 5,664 students statewide who completed the state treasurer’s Reading Is an Investment program promoting financial literacy.
Meanwhile, Bethel Elementary was one of three Vermont schools at which 100 percent of students participated in the reading challenge. Librarian Janet Whitaker led the Bethel effort.
Woodsville High School’s G. Hampton McGaw chapter of the National Honor Society inducted 10 new members in a ceremony at the John Bagonzi Community Building on March 16. Students earning induction for their high academic standing, character, leadership and service are, by grade level:
Sophomores — Roddy Emley, Kiara Reagan, Charlotte Hickey, Kera Butson, Lily Kinder and Molly Clough.
Juniors — Courtney Derrington.
Seniors — Phil Cadreact, Rainie May, Kassidy Patione.
Thetford Academy recently named senior Ria Leveret as student of the month for March. In nominating her for the award, her teachers described her as “one who speaks her mind gracefully and assuredly and lives her beliefs” and added that she “exemplifies the qualities of every teacher’s dream student, and of every student’s perfect friend.”
With a fourth-place finish out of nine teams at the recent Northeast regional semifinals of the International Championship of High School A Cappella, Hanover High School’s Dachords ensemble narrowly missed advancing to the tournament’s regional finals. The Dachords had qualified for the semifinals by winning their quarterfinal in Bristol, Conn.
Members of the ensemble are:
Soprano — Rachel Enelow, Kate Budney, Marie Pillsbury, Camilla Pentland.
Alto — Tess Snyder, Lilly Cadow, Romaney Granizo-Mackenzie, Thea Lacrosse.
Tenor — Tyler Nabinger, Daniel Fleischer, Isaac Jacobs, Patrick McDevit.
Bass — Daniel Osofsky, Henry Lang, Joseph Jacobs, Chris Sundaram.
The Vistas in Education program is looking for Upper Valley families with teenagers to host students from France for three weeks this coming July.
April 22 is the deadline to apply to host a student. For more information, call Merideth Jackson, an area teacher of French, at 603-443-0480 or email brooksdr@hotmail.com or visit vistasineducation.com/hosting.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Education-related news and items also can be sent to schoolnotes@vnews.com.
CORRECTION
An earlier version of this article listed an incorrect phone number for Merideth Jackson.