By Russell Omo
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atmosphere, with colleagues she has known from previous competitions not limited to the symposium.
From April 23 to 27, Senior Viola Mocz competed against other student scientists in the 52nd annual National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (NJSHS) and won first in the physical science category for her research of the internal structure of elementary particles. This marks Mocz’s last high school science competition and thus ends the young scientist’s high school career on a bright note.
“I did not expect winning first place. After they called third and second I was like, ‘Oh, it’s probably not going to happen. Goodbye.’ Because all the projects over there were such a high caliber and everyone was just so amazing,” expressed Mocz.
Participants competed in one of seven categories including environmental science, life sciences, medicine and health, mathematics and computer science, chemistry, engineering and physical science. To compete in NJSHS, students must first compete and place in their respective regional symposium. For Mocz, placing first in the Pacific Symposium for Science and Sustainability earned her a spot to compete in NJSHS and present her paper amongst a myriad of projects. “One of the other projects was creating more efficient solar panels, there was one that dealt with dark matter. In computer science, there was one person who modeled the beat of a heart in a much more efficient way,” explained Mocz.
Competitors had to give a 12-minute speech on their projects followed by a six-minute questioning period. Students had to demonstrate an understanding of their project as well as exemplary presentation skills in order to succeed. “You are judged according to the originality of the project, the creativity, a good data analysis, recognizing limitations of your work,” said Mocz, “It’s just like telling a story.” Those 12 minutes on stage are much harder than one would expect. “In order to convey or present in 12 minutes is a big task to do. You need to provide enough details and not go beyond the time limit you are given,” added Science Fair Coordinator Nel Venzon.
The inception of Mocz’s project can be traced back to her sophomore year, when she created a model to understand the physical properties of particles. Mocz’s presentation was based off of a continuation of that project. “I created a new particle model to theoretically calculate properties of particles,” said Mocz, “It works for all of the particle families, it helps unite the different families, it also has some predictive capabilities as well. I remember in my sophomore year I could predict the mass of an X boson before it was actually found and it was correct.”
Winning first in her category was not only a demonstration of her scientific prowess but also her growth as a student and person throughout her high school career. “It’s a beautiful thing to see someone, over time, improve. Thinking about her freshman year, (Mocz) was very shy (and ) timid, but when I saw her last week when she presented: amazing. It was a completely different person,” said Venzon.
Mocz’s dedication to science has left a mark on those she has worked with. “I wish her the best. You know, one day I think I’ll see her appear on (the) Discovery (Channel),” said Science Olympiad adviser Matthew Capps.
Mocz won a $12,000 scholarship from NJSHS and plans to study particle physics at Princeton University this coming fall.
