WAPPINGERS SCHOOL DISTRICT—One is “into chemistry,” another gets a kick out of capacitors. A third is fascinated by the physics of music.

A love of science, and success in their early endeavors in the subject, is one thing five Roy C. Ketcham High School students have in common. Laya Varanasi, Rachel Perfecto, Teren Wong, Robert Verkuil, and Joshua Hughes all placed in the 50th annual Dutchess County Regional Science Fair April 4 at Dutchess Community College. Varanasi took first place in the senior division, Perfecto took second, and Wong placed third. In the ninth grade division, Verkuil took first and Hughes took third. In addition, WCSD students Ellen Reifenberger and Amy Biggs from Kinry Road Elementary took third place in the fifth grade division.

Varanasi’s first-place win secured her spot at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which took place in Reno, Nevada, last week.

“I was surprised,” she said of her reaction to her regional win. “It was the first time I won first place. It was a happy kind of thing.”

Varanasi’s project focused on biofuels, which, she notes was a popular topic in the news at the time of the fair. A junior at RCK, Varanasi is interested in studying chemistry or neurology in college.

Perfecto, a sophomore at Ketcham, combined her love for math and music to create a project that studied the physics of sound and song.

Sophomore Wong also used the news to come up with the topic of his project, which keyed on fuel consumption and direct methanol chemical reactions. Wong is interested in pursuing his studies of chemistry after high school.

Verkuil, who said he’s “always working with electronics,” created a project with capacitors. After having worked with basic circuits for some time and been involved with science projects since fifth grade, Verkuil said he’d like to study “more complicated” science, like quantum or theoretical physics.

For his project, Hughes chose to tackle another hot topic, global warming, which he died by observing the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by plants. Hughes’ possible future scientific pursuits might focus on gene manipulation.

Approximately 600 students participated in the Wappingers district science fair at the end of February and more than 200 of them qualified to take part in the D.C. Regional fair.