PCSST’s First-Ever Science Award Night
Staff members, administrators, family and friends, all came together to celebrate our scholars’ accomplishments in STEM.
On Monday, May 11th, PCSST hosted its first-ever Science Award Night. This was an idea presented by the robotics students, a lot of whom will be graduating soon and wanted to have a big celebration before they left. Since PCSST had competed in multiple science, engineering, and mathematics competitions this school year, the event was expanded to celebrate every single one of their participants.
For the event, Ashly Guillen Carlin and Jorge Velazquez had designed special trophies for all the robotics team members, while Ms. Memon worked on posters for the seniors, trophies for all other participants, as well as certificates for each competition (with the help of the IT department and our Secretary, Ms. Alexis Zamora). Mr. Brunciak printed out the programs, Ms. Coyle prepared a nice balloon arch for photos, and Emir Talas and Galilee Perez also designed special table toppers that went along with the event’s theme, ‘Shooting for the Stars’.
Of course, while we were aiming for the stars, PCSST had so many of its own stars to celebrate, and every scholar got to dress up for this formal event, along with family members and friends to make the occasion even more special. We were also joined by some of our staff members, who had stayed back after Monday meetings to show their support.
We began the event with opening remarks from our emcees, Ashly and Mr. Steven Donato, along with a welcome address by Dr. Coskun. After a break for dinner (prepared by Mashio’s and served by our own student volunteers), we had the award ceremony to highlight the accomplishments of the students across multiple regional, national, and international competitions, all in STEM. We celebrated the graduating class of 2026, and invited all participants to share a few words about their experiences on stage. The event concluded with closing remarks from Ms. Moore, and multiple photos to celebrate everyone’s success.
Although there were a few minor hiccups, everyone enjoyed the event overall, and was very happy to see how much the students had accomplished. We thank every single student, parent, staff member, and administrator who made this event possible, and we hope to have bigger, better events in the future to highlight all our wonderful scholars’ amazing achievements.
Below is the list of all the scholars we celebrated, and their respective competitions:
- Renata Perez (STEAM Tank)
- Olimpia Calixto (STEAM Tank)
- Nathaly Del Carmen Marine Arcena (STEAM Tank)
- Galilee Perez (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Emilio Manzo Vargas (Robotics)
- Angelina LaFranco (International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition)
- Yarisbel Rodriguez (International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition) – Qualified for Pre-Final Round
- Mirely Guillen (International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Aidan Davis (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Jordan Barahona (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Eliam Martinez (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Ryson Dennett-Davis (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Carolina Pinero (NEO Science Olympiad) – Gold Medal in AI Challenge
- De’Arie Williams (NEO Science Olympiad)
- Clara Rodriguez (NEO Science Olympiad)
- Christopher Barahona (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Ashly Guillen Carlin (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Jorge Velazquez (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Emir Talas (Science Olympiad, Robotics)
- Jamir Gomez (Science Olympiad, Robotics) – 7th Place in NJIT Regional Boomilever Challenge
- Isaac DeDios (Robotics)
- Vanessa Ramirez (Robotics)
- Marcos Barahona (Robotics)
- Amani Harrigan (Robotics)
- Amir Harrigan (Robotics)
