Holy Trinity School Student Takes 2nd Place in California State Science Fair
SAN PEDRO, Calif. May 27, 2010 – Ariana Rupp, a 7th grade student at Holy Trinity School, has received second place in the Product Science category at the California State Science Fair with her project “Does Lip Gloss / Balm Increase the Ability of Ultraviolet (UV) Light to Kill Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast)?” The 59th annual California State Science Fair was held on May 17-18, 2010. This year, there were 960 participants from 394 schools throughout the State meeting in competition for awards totaling $60,000.
Ariana qualified for the California State Science Fair by receiving an honorable mention in the Los Angeles County Science Fair, the oldest and largest regional science fair in the western United States. Her project used a mutated strain of yeast as a model organism to study the relationship between lip gloss use and lip cancer. Her findings disputed a theory held by some dermatologists that proposes that lip gloss acts as a magnifying glass and intensifies the effects of UV light from the sun. As part of the Los Angeles County Science Fair, Ariana also received a special award from the Southern California Health Physics Society.
“We are very proud of Ariana, her hard work and becoming the first Holy Trinity School student to place at the California State Science Fair,” said Linda Wiley, principal, Holy Trinity School. “Her accomplishment is an example of how Holy Trinity’s science and math programs continue to grow and develop by building outstanding students and future leaders in math and science.”
Holy Trinity School was founded in 1950 and is celebrating its 60th year of educating students in the South Bay.