The Synopsys Science Fair took place on March 17 at the San Jose Convention Center where students from Santa Clara County interested in science, technology, engineering, and math are challenged to go beyond their classroom studies to do independent project-based research.

At this year’s Synopsys, Harker had 34 students who received awards, out of which there were 17 first place winners, seven 2nd place winners , ten honorable mentions, and several specialized prizes. All students recognized all eligible to compete in the California State Science Fair (CSSF). Additionally,, Amy Dunphy (10), Rishab Gargeya (11), Manan Shah (11), Jonathan Ma (12), Sadhika Malladi (12) were selected to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona on May 9-10.

Many of the students began preparations and working on their projects during the summer. Sneha Bhetanabhotla (11) finished her three month long project over the summer, and before the actual Synopsys fair she created a poster board along with a powerpoint to condense her research. Sneha, who has done Synopsys since sixth grade, received an Honorable Mention in the Regulated Research Institution (RRI) Physical Science and Engineering Category.

“Receiving the awards feels good because I feel proud of the work I did last summer and I feel like getting an award recognizes all the hard work and effort I put into it,” Sneha said.

While some students were pleased with their accomplishments, others felt they could reach a higher potential, such as Cindy Wang (9), who worked with Katherine Zhang (9).

“We wanted more specialty awards and those are very competitive, so I guess we will try more next year,” Cindy said.

All participants have various inspirations for competing, and Anooshree Sengupta (10) found the opportunity to choose a specialized research topic intriguing.

“I started in 8th grade and I thought it was cool to do research where you can chose stuff you are interested in and go further and learn more,” Anooshree said.

Chris Spenner, upper school science teacher, feels there is more value to Synopsys than awards.

“I feel like they are all accomplishing things, but I would not say the awards from Synopsys are the accomplishment. It’s the experience they are having and the realization that research is hard and slow, but also that is what can make it rewarding,” Spenner said.

The 2016 California State Science Fair, which students selected will be competing in, takes place in Los Angeles from May 23-24.