Three teams from Long Island were named regional winners in a competition that challenged them to envision technology that might exist a decade or more in the future.

Teams from Jericho High School, Connetquot High School in Bohemia and Long Beach Middle School are among 24 regional winners nationwide in this year’s ExploraVision Competition, coordinated by the National Science Teaching Association and sponsored by Toshiba. They were selected in the grades 10-12, 7-9 and 4-6 divisions, respectively.

The competition’s regional winners are now vying at the national level, creating webpages that explore “what breakthroughs are needed and possible consequences of the new technology,” according to competition officials. National winners will be announced April 28, with first-place teams in each division winning $10,000 and second-place teams winning $5,000.

“It is truly an honor to work alongside some of the brightest minds of the next generation,” said Jericho science research coordinator Alexis Vandergoot. “I find immense comfort in knowing that students like these will be at the forefront of solving the complex challenges of their generation.”

Jericho’s team proposed a self-mitigating technology that “detects early microcrack formation and locally reinforces high-risk regions within concrete,” while Connetquot’s team proposed a technology that simulates the function of “training immune cells by showing them fragments of bacteria, viruses and cancer,” according to competition officials.

Long Beach’s project, meanwhile, involves a customizable bracelet that uses “future nanotechnology to monitor key brain chemicals linked to mood and well-being,” competition officials said.

ELMONT

SCHOOL MURAL PROJECT

Clara H. Carlson Elementary School has launched a project in which students and staff are creating murals in the school’s downstairs hallway to “encourage self-confidence and creative expression,” according to school officials.

The initiative tasks sixth-graders and teachers with designing and painting pieces inspired by children’s novels featured in the school’s Inclusive Community Read Program, including “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio, which is about a boy with a facial difference. The murals include positive affirmatives such as “You are brave.”

“Thanks to the collective effort of teachers and students, our hallway is so much brighter, and the children are connecting to the characters they see painted on the walls,” Clara H. Carlson Assistant Principal Richard Mansfield said.

ROSLYN

PHYSICS OLYMPICS

A team from Roslyn High School won first place in this year’s Long Island Physics Olympics, which included multiple-choice questions that challenged students’ knowledge and application of physics principles. This year’s event included 14 high school teams from across Long Island, according to competition officials.

Roslyn’s winning team members were John Canton, Orla Gajwani, Russell Plotnitzky, Jack Yin and Katelyn Zheng. Second- and third-place teams came from Great Neck North High School and General Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown, respectively.

The 40th annual competition was sponsored by the Long Island Physics Teachers’ Association and held last month at Farmingdale State College.

ISLANDWIDE

TANGERKIDS GRANTS

Six Long Island schools and one school district have been awarded grants from Tanger Outlets Deer Park and Tanger Outlets Riverhead as part of their TangerKids Grants program. The intiative invited educators to “request funding to enhance programs and better serve students,” according to its website.

This year’s recipients: Babylon Elementary School; Bellport High School; Hampton Bays Middle School; Hiawatha Elementary School in Lake Ronkonkoma; Laurel Park Elementary School in Brentwood; New Lane Memorial Elementary School in Selden; and the Riverhead Central School District.

The grant projects range from one that helps a school thrift shop at Laurel Park to one that aids in the creation of a new sensory room to help students regulate emotions at Hiawatha, according to TangerKids.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.