More than 30 participants competed in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at LSUS this past weekend, with five students punching their ticket to the national competition.

Students conducted original research investigations in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and presented those projects at the regional event at LSUS.

Caddo Magnet High’s Maya Trutschl took home first place with her project titled “Utilizing Machine Learning to Mitigate the Risk of Transfusion-Related Hemolytic Reactions.”

All five national slots were filled by Caddo Magnet students, with St. Joseph’s Academy students securing the two alternate slots.

Joining Trutschl at nationals are:

Second place: Aashni Shah (The Production of an Anti-PCDH1 Antibody for the Purpose of Combating Hantavirus)

Third place: Claire Kevil (The “Ideal Batter: Testing Electrolytic Cells Under Various Conditions”)

Fourth place: Arisha Sultana (Navigating Demographic Disparities in Louisiana Women’s Health using Artificial Intelligence Within Geographic Analysis)

Fifth place: Lily Bodily (Categorization of Kidney Cancer Using Machine Learning Based on lncRNA Expression)

The first alternate is Lola Avery (Detecting the Effects of Implicit Bias on an Individual’s Global Perspective).

The second alternate is Allison Riley (The Association Between Students’ and Teachers’ Perception of School Climate and Mental Health).