LCP Seventh Graders Impress at County Science Fair
On March 17, 2025, the 75th-Annual Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair showcased over 900 individual and student-team projects at USC’s Shrine Exposition Hall.
The fair featured some of the most accomplished middle- and high-school students that the county has to offer. Eighteen categories, ranging from chemistry and microbiology to environmental studies to artificial intelligence, comprised the Junior Division from which La Canada Preparatory gleaned a Second Place, an Honorable-Mention and a Recognition Award.
LCP seventh grader Jacqueline Grigoryants won Second Place for the project entitled, “The Toxic Price of Beauty” in the Environmental Management category, which examined the effects of air purification on toxic-fume exposure from popular beauty products—she is also a Statewide and National Fair Competitor.
LCP seventh grader Matthew Harutunians received an Honorable Mention for the project “Electricity and Plant Growth” in the Plant Biology and Growth category, which evaluated the influence that voltage and amperage have on plant development.
LCP seventh grader Natalie Aloyan received the Recognition Award for the project “Powering the Future with Microbes” in the Microbiology category, which tested the environmental factors that influence bacterial production of micro-voltages.
LCP science teacher, Steve Miller, attributes his students’ successes to the “remarkable dedication and depth of LCP’s Science Department.” He added that the school begins science education in transitional kindergarten and that it remains an academic focus through the eighth grade. The science program has hosted its own science fair annually for the past twenty-six years for third, fifth and seventh grades, organized by fellow science teachers, Annette Kiureghian and David Panduro. Miller emphasized that the critiques students receive from science- and engineering-community judges also prepare them for competition at the county level. Jacqueline Grigoryants has gone on to compete at the California-state level as an LA County representative and will be a national-competition participant in June.