Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta Commends Students at Dickinson Avenue Elementary School for Winning 2017 Brookhaven Lab Science Fair

LongIsland.com

Students won First Place in the Kindergarten and Third Grade Divisions.

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At the Suffolk County Legislature, the third grade first place winners from Dickinson Avenue Elementary School are pictured with their teacher Jill Marie Mika (left, rear) and school principal, Patricia Essenfeld, (right) along with Suffolk County Legislator Trotta, holding Hazel, the class “pet” cow.

Photo by: Office of Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta

Smithtown, NY - June 19, 2017 - Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta welcomed kindergarten student Matthew Macartney and the Third Grade Class from Dickinson Avenue Elementary School and their families, as well as school officials to the June meeting of the Legislature to congratulate them on taking first place in their respective grades in the annual Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Elementary School Science Fair. 
 
Matthew Macartney of East Northport, a kindergarten student at Dickinson Avenue School came in first place in his division for determining the best way to cool down water bottles. He came up with five ways to cool them and tested each method over a period of time. Matthew learned that the water in the refrigerator had the longest cool down time and that the ice, water and salt bath combination had the fastest cool down time. 
 
Ms. Jill Marie Mika’s third grade class at Dickinson Elementary School took firstplace by conducting a class project to make casein plastic from milk. Their class “pet” is Hazel the cow, which was the inspiration for their project. Inseparate tests, the students heated both fat free and regular milk and separated the curds and the whey and then squeezed the excess liquid from the substance to create a ball. They repeated this process several times. The results showed that whole milk produced two times as much casein plastic as the fat free milk.
 
“I commend all of these students andtheir teachers for an excellent job in competing in this annual contest as there were 470 projects submitted by 100 Suffolk County schools,”   said Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta. “I am very proud that since I have been a legislator that we have had winners in this contest each year,” added Legislator Trotta.
 
Legislator Robert Trotta represents the 13th Legislative District, which includes Smithtown, Fort Salonga, Kings Park, San Remo, Nissequogue, Head of the Harbor, and St. James, as well as most of East Northport and parts of Northport and Commack.
 
Legislator Trotta serves on the Legislature’s Economic Development, Environment, Planning & Agriculture, Health,Public Works, Transportation & Energy, and Ways & Means Committees.