A total of 28 students from Paul V. Moore High School and Mexico High School participated this spring in the local competition, which spins off the international GENIUS Olympiad co-founded by SUNY Oswego and Terra Science and Education Foundation.

Winners Nick Phillips and Dan Boyd of Paul V. Moore High School presented a project titled "Mercury Content in Water in Comparison to Methylmercury in Fish." The project required the use of scientific equipment that was not available at their school, but the student researchers persevered and found equipment at a local college to borrow to complete their analysis.

Phillips and Boyd each won a solar-powered Bluetooth speaker/charger and secured $2,000 for their high school's science department. With the winnings, the Central Square school is establishing a new science research center that will house the very equipment Phillips and Boyd had to seek out elsewhere. The environmental science, Earth science, biology, AP biology, chemistry, AP chemistry and physics classes will use the equipment.

"Our intention is to use the award money to perpetuate student involvement in scientific research," said Jennifer Saunders, science teacher at Paul V. Moore High School. "The science research center will provide new opportunities for projects we simply could not do this year. Hopefully, it will be a catalyst for future growth as well."

Phillips and Boyd also earned a spot to compete in the international GENIUS Olympiad held recently at SUNY Oswego, where high school students from many states and dozens of countries compete against one another in environmentally themed science, art, writing, design, music and business categories. The pair took home a bronze medal in science and each received a Kindle HD.

Placing second in the Oswego County GENIUS Olympiad was Eva Keohane with a project titled "The Effect of Cleaners on Remote's Bacteria" and third was Sarah Caskinette for "Living in an Urban or Rural Area's Effects on Recycling." Both students attend Paul V. Moore High School.

For information on participating next year in the Oswego County GENIUS Olympiad, contact: [email protected] in the Office of Business and Community Relations at SUNY Oswego.