Greater Lowell Technical High School Holds 2025 Science Fair

TYNGSBOROUGH — Superintendent Jill Davis is proud to share that the 2025 Greater Lowell Technical High School Science Fair showcased an impressive level of student engagement featuring a wide variety of scientific experiments and engineering design projects.

This year’s event included 190 individual and group projects submitted by 276 students.

Instructors Kyros Vergados and Tobi McGovern led the four days of Round 1 judging for the competition, with invaluable support from a dedicated group of teachers who generously volunteered their time. Their combined efforts successfully narrowed down the 190 project submissions to 67 finalists, who then showcased their work on Tuesday, April 15, in the GLTHS gymnasium.

A panel of 22 judges, comprising teachers, administrators, and staff, evaluated the finalists’ projects. Approximately 850 students attended the Science Fair, engaging with their peers’ innovative work and celebrating their classmates’ accomplishments.

This year’s winning entry, “Fish Fuel for Martian Fields,” was submitted by Grade 12 Engineering Technology students, Henry Yukawa Bento, Patrick Khiev, and Dhruv Patel, all of Lowell.

The project successfully tested the hypothesis that the students could use aquaponics — the process of growing plants in water that is fertilized by fish waste — to more successfully grow plants in Martian soil someday. The project was part of NASA’s Plant the Moon & Plant Mars Challenge, which challenges students to examine the viability of growing plants in simulated Martian soil.

The second-place entry, “Bottled Water: Acidic or Alkaline,” was submitted by Grade 12 Graphic Communications student, Rylee Siopes, of Dracut.

The project successfully tested various brands of bottled water to determine their pH level, and whether they are acidic, alkaline, or neutral, while analyzing the health benefits of water that is neutral or alkaline, versus acidic. 

The third-place entry, “Renewable Energy,” was submitted by Grade 10 Health Assisting student, Sofia Gomez, of Lowell, and Grade 11 Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism student, Maywa Guaman, of Lowell. 

The project successfully tested and compared renewable sources of energy. The project compared hydroelectric and aerial energy and examined each type of renewable energy production. 

The Science Fair was coordinated by a dedicated team of teachers and staff, led by newly appointed Math and Science Chair, Dr. Ariana Arfanakis and Physics Instructor Christopher Burns. Special thanks go to Administrative Assistant Kathy Sniezek, who worked diligently behind the scenes to ensure the fair’s smooth execution. Many additional teachers and staff members also contributed by volunteering their time as judges and providing guidance and supports to students throughout the development of their projects. Their collective efforts were instrumental in making this year’s event a success.

“The creativity, curiosity and hard work demonstrated by our students this year was truly inspiring,” said Superintendent Davis. “Events like this highlight the incredible potential of our future scientists and engineers and we are grateful to everyone who made it possible.”