Valley Stream North High students win Northwell poster contest

A team of student researchers from Valley Stream North High School won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2023 Northwell Health Medical Marvels Competition. Sophomores Marco Alvarez, Robert Armstrong, Navrosedip Kundlas, Abigail Reichbach, and Samuel Vega competed against 120 students from 19 high schools across the New York City and Long Island region in the contest, which tasked participants to come up with proposals to address climate change.

The team from North’s proposal involved outlining ways school districts on Long Island could reduce their carbon footprints. The students came up with a plan for districts and their officials to follow in order to improve infrastructure, such as lighting, HVAC, transportation, sewage, waste management, and the installation of solar panels in an economic and sustainable way.

In addition to creating their award-winning poster, the team members were tasked with submitting research papers and giving presentations on their climate change solutions. They were judged by a panel of scientists, clinicians, and health care administrators, who evaluated their work on the basis of clarity, approach, innovation and measurement of success.