Student place at regional PJAS competition

Fourteen Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School students won awards as part of the 2024 Region 7 Meeting of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS). A total of seven of those students qualified for the state competition. Fox Chapel Area first-place winners were senior Lakshanya Rajaganapathi; juniors Anna Delale-O’Connor, Etash Jhanji and Varnujah Rengaramanujam Kanagaraj; and freshmen Rachel Kim, Heidi Stiger and Param Thawani.

The first-place winners qualified for the state PJAS competition which will be held May 19-21, 2024, at Penn State University, Main Campus. Second-place awards went to seniors Adhitya Thirumala and Gabriella Urso; junior Alison Clark; sophomores Joanna Li and Zehra Ozkaya; eighth-grader Divya Thirumala; and seventh-grader Rishabh Krishnamurthy.

Additionally, Lakshanya received a perseverance award and the Carnegie Mellon University – Margaret Carver Diversity, Equity and Inclusion special award. Adhitya also received a perseverance award. Varnujah received a perfect score award, and Heidi won the Pitt Swanson School of Engineering – Excellence in Engineering special award.

The participating students (from several schools from Allegheny and Westmoreland counties) researched their science projects for several months. During the competition, each of the students was required to make a presentation in front of a panel of judges.