Polk County Public Schools
Pranali Dalvi, a Lakeland resident who will be junior at Bartow International Baccalaureate in the 2008-2009 school year, won $500 for her science project from the American Society of Pharmacognosy at the 59th annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in Atlanta.
The award is given to outstanding projects involving the study of natural products in categories that include chemistry, cellular and molecular biology and plant sciences.
Her project was titled “A Novel Approach for Detecting the Inhibitory Effects of Flavonoids.” Pranali’s project investigated how compounds found in fruits, vegetables and certain beverages could have beneficial biomedical and antioxidant effects against disease.
More than 1,500 projects from students in 51 countries were exhibited at ISEF.
In addition to winning an award at ISEF, Pranali’s project involving the study of flavonoids won a second place at the state science fair and a first place at the regional science fair.
Her teacher for the project was Debbie Kennon.
Christopher Lioi, a Winter Haven resident and 2008 graduate of Bartow International Baccalaureate, helped Team Florida to a second place finish at the Panasonic Academic Challenge held at Disney.
The Academic Challenge is the national academic championship and state teams were tested in their knowledge of mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, foreign languages, technology, fine arts and humanities. Team Florida finished as runner-up by a single point to national champion Team Illinois.
Lioi received a $1,500 scholarship and a championship ring for being a member of the runner-up team. Lioi was one of six Florida students chosen to represent the state in the national championship. He was selected for Team Florida based on his performance at the Commissioner’s Academic Challenge held at Disney this spring. The Commissioner’s Challenge is the state academic championship and the Polk team composed of students from public and private schools was state runner-up at that event.
Lioi, also a National Merit scholarship finalist, will attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville,Tennessee and study biochemistry.