STEM NIGHT - A Magical Night of Discovery for Washingtonville Students

Learning Science and having fun at the same time, with some gooey slime

STEM Night 2025

WASHINGTONVILLE, N.Y. (April 29, 2025) — Washingtonville High School buzzed with excitement as families, faculty and students explored hands-on activities and presentations during the 2025 district-wide STEM Night on April 29. Students from every grade level proudly displayed their projects while more than 100 families packed the building to support Washingtonville’s growing STEM programs. 

From candy catapults to cutting-edge research projects and a 3D printing station, the event featured a wide range of programs and clubs, including Project Lead The Way, Gems in STEM, Science Honor Society and SUPA Science Research – showcasing how Washingtonville integrates STEM into classrooms and extracurriculars, equipping students with the tools to think critically and creatively.

STEM Across The District

Students posing with their displays

Elementary teachers from each school created various engaging stations to demonstrate innovative methods for incorporating STEM into their lessons:

Taft teachers Michelle McElroy and Nicole Sookdeo led a design challenge using magnetic tiles that tested students’ spatial awareness and problem-solving skills. Designs included a wizard’s wand and owl, with a friendly speed competition and leaderboard for the fastest builders.

Little Britain teachers Paige Yezarski, Deb Zupko and Ashley Scelia demonstrated the visible light spectrum using refraction glasses, prisms and a colorful skittles activity that revealed how light bends as it passes through different materials – a fun way to learn the science behind rainbows.

Round Hill teacher Crystal Magistro set up a kinetic sand station where students could explore texture and structure while building castles. As Ms. Magistro explained, this activity is a fun sensory experience for all because kinetic sand, which is softened with silicone oil, is moldable and mess-free!

Middle School Tech In Action

Washingtonville Middle School students wowed attendees with their recent Project Lead The Way (PLTW) projects, showcasing block-based coding through interactive displays featuring robots, micro:bits and fully functioning video games built in class. 

One popular attraction? The PLTW Automation and Robotics booth, where students invited guests to test-drive robots that used magnets to collect nuts and bolts off the ground. According to eighth grader and robotics member, Alan Brienza, who helped run the booth, the top score of the night was a whopping 47 pieces!

Middle schoolers showcased their hard work, inspiring younger students and building excitement for their future STEM journeys.

High School Innovation 

High school stations brought science and creativity together with a dose of real-world relevance. Representing Gems in STEM, a program for girls passionate about science, sophomore Sara Elarfaoui and junior Megan Bushey demonstrated the three states of matter through root beer floats. Solid ice cream, liquid soda and fizzy gas on top proved to be a delicious way to learn. 

Science Honor Society seniors Anna Buchanan and Sophie Decarvalho introduced a healthy alternative to popular energy drinks. Their homemade version, using green tea, lemon juice, cherry juice, coconut water and seltzer, delivers natural caffeine and electrolytes without artificial additives. 

“I have friends who are addicted to energy drinks like Celsius,” Anna said, explaining the reasoning behind the project. “It makes them jittery, gives them cravings and it’s super unhealthy.”

Senior Connor Byer and sophomores Matthew Tarace and Luke Broge taught guests how to create boba pearls using fruit juice, sodium alginate and calcium lactate in a flavorful mix of chemistry and creativity. 

Another standout project came from juniors Lucas Robles, Jeremie Bapte and Owen Vinarub, who built a working Tesla coil. The coil works by using electricity to create a magnetic field, which builds up energy and releases it as high-voltage sparks.

“I want to show how interesting science can be,” Lucas said, who hopes the project inspires younger students to take an interest in engineering.

Students from the SUPA Science Research program showcased their cutting-edge research projects developed during the course, which runs from sophomore to senior year and offers college credit. 

Sophomore Ace Boothe presented a project on how scientists study the human brain and eyes using fruit flies — an ethical and efficient model due to their short life cycles and genetic similarities to humans.

“Fruit flies are used to study our eyes and brains because they grow quickly, have small genomes,” Ace explained. 

Junior Rhea Trapnell focused her project on aviation safety, specifically how fatigue is underreported and poorly measured in the airline industry.

She explained that pilots often self-report fatigue on a scale of 1 to 10, but fear of professional consequences discourages honesty, potentially leading to preventable accidents.

Her solution? Using physiological sensors (like heart rate, eye movement and brain waves) and AI-driven fatigue prediction models to advocate for policy changes and improve pilot safety – particularly for underrepresented groups like female pilots, whose fatigue cycles are currently understudied.

“This could help prevent crashes, protect pilots, and hold companies accountable,” Rhea said, who plans to double major in aviation science and psychology in college.

Washingtonville’s 2025 STEM Night wasn’t just a celebration of student achievement; it was a testament to what’s possible when creativity, curiosity and community come together. 

Special thanks to committee members Kristin Shaw, Marguerite Fusco, Alexandra Bandremer-Perez, Callie Sansone, Dana Gropper and Jaclyn Ellefsen for reviving the district-wide celebration that is sure to continue as a growing tradition in the years ahead!