Sophomores Sabrina Cartagena and Kareema Boone participated in the county science fair on March 22, although it was reported in the previous issue of The Student Voice that students from our school had not been invited.

Science teacher Shing-Mei Lio said that it was a last-minute invite.

"We didn't know until two days before, but it gave the girls a chance to interact and see the competition," she said.

According to both Lio and the girls, the projects done by the other competitors were very advanced and not on our school's level of academics.

"It was very intimidating seeing projects that were way better than mine," Boone said. "But it was also a great experience for me."

"All of the projects that are done by our students are grade-level appropriate, our school is very small and we have limited resources," Lio said.

Many of the other schools have summer mentoring programs in partnership with local colleges to give their students a better education, Lio said. Their programs go on for months, and sometimes, years.

According to Lio, the school is trying to get our students involved in these programs as well.

"[We] as teachers strive to give students the best education with the limited resources we have," she said.

Juniors Tyanna Hughes and Ventress Williams will participate in a science research project facilitated by science teacher Frederic Williams at St. Peter's College this summer.

Kay O'Malley, coordinator of the Hudson County science fair, invited some of our student journalists to cover the science fair for the Jersey Journal, which sponsors the event. Senior Nareasha Willis' story was printed in the March 29 issue of the Jersey Journal.

"I was excited to work for the Jersey Journal," Willis said. "I set a goal for myself, before going in, to find the real meaning behind the students' projects, and I didn't just want to focus on the winners."