Three of the Wrangell High School students, who were honored at the regional Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society science fair in Juneau in April are now heading to the nationals in Portland.
Seniors Madelyn Davies, Alana Harrison and Sophia Martinsen were scheduled to fly south on Tuesday (October 13) to present their research projects, both of which took home awards at the regional fair in Juneau.
On the evening of Oct. 7, they held a presentation at the Nolan Center to warm up for the trip.
“They did such a great job and I am looking forward to them presenting in Portland!” said their science teacher, Heather Howe, in an email the day after the presentation.
Harrison and Martinsen collected water samples from the 10-Mile pipe — used by some residents for drinking water — and compared it to microplastic concentrations in samples from Heritage Harbor and Reliance Harbor.
Their project came out of a dual-enrollment class with the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the RASOR program, Rural Alaska Students in One Health Research. The third member of their team, Braden Howard, contributed to the research but chose not to participate in the presentations.
In her science project, Davies researched the antibiotic properties of usnea, a common lichen found throughout the Tongass National Forest. Lichen is an algae hybrid living symbiotically with fungi.
Davies was familiar with the indigenous ties of the plant and its medicinal uses. Her test showed that less bacteria grew when usnea was in the petri dishes. “Which is pretty cool if you ask me,” she said.
