The contraption may not be able to create large amounts of ammonia needed for large farms, Sung said. \u201cIt would be good for smaller orchards and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t set out to solve problems for small farmers. Rather, he\u2019d found his way to his project based on the process involved: He wanted to work with plasma and vacuum pumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think that the topic doesn\u2019t really matter in the first place \u2014 because once you love the science, you think about what you get to work with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Ihan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-Sweetwater-Science-Fair-0035.jpg\")
Ihan Sung with his project at Eastlake High School on Thursday, August 13, 2026, in Chula Vista. (Brandon Pollard \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Ronald Johnathan Wyatt and Giles Albert Del Priore, both 18, took the opposite approach when they embarked on a project to help dementia patients orient themselves in the world.<\/p>\n
Both teens have some family experience dealing with memory-related illness. \u201cWe both found a problem that we wanted to solve based off of our personal lives,\u201d Del Priore said.<\/p>\n
The pair built a device to give people with dementia, including Alzheimer\u2019s, a tool to help them check validated facts when they get confused.<\/p>\n
The tool, which relies on artificial intelligence constrained by psychological and computer principles, aims to offer a technological backstop and safe communication for somebody with cognitive impairments. It can also offer relief for overworked caregivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It can remind them to take their medications and send videos to their caregiver. And if a person gets confused and makes a factual statement that is false, the device \u2014 with information validated by a caregiver \u2014 can correct them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventy percent of a caregiver\u2019s time can be spent taking care of someone who has one of these incredibly involved illnesses, or (hired) caretakers can cost up to $10,000 a month,\u201d said Wyatt. \u201cIt\u2019s not affordable for most people we found.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt and Del Priore both graduated from Eastlake earlier this year. Now Wyatt has just begun his freshman year at UC Santa Cruz, and Del Priore at the University of San Francisco.<\/p>\n
![\"Ronald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-Sweetwater-Science-Fair-01431.jpg\")
Ronald Wyatt, left, and Giles Del Priore at Eastlake High School on Thursday, August 13, 2026, in Chula Vista. (Brandon Pollard \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
When Sung applies to college later this year, his first choice will be Stanford University, if it offers enough financial aid. But he\u2019s applying mostly to UC schools and thinks UC Berkeley would be an \u201cexcellent choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a lot of engineers there that are working already in problems very similar (to the ones) that I\u2019m trying to fix,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Amanda Williams, a biology teacher who served as their science fair adviser, said the three students\u2019 success with their projects showed that teens don\u2019t have to have a generous budget, special access or professional connections to do great science.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do this without any of those resources is quite extraordinary,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sung said his project cost him under $100 to create. Wyatt and Del Priore said they designed theirs to be affordable; they spent about $80 on the little computer that ran their AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not that rich,\u201d said Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Sung\u2019s recognition in the international fair came after he\u2019d had to miss Sweetwater\u2019s own districtwide science fair \u2014 a problem with his device\u2019s seal caused by bubbling silicone had thrown a wrench in his efforts.<\/p>\n
He had to figure out \u201cproblem after problem after problem,\u201d which Williams pointed out is the \u201ctrue essence of science.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the delay meant he got to serve as a judge in the middle school science fair, an event where all three teens volunteer.<\/p>\n
Sung saw it as an opportunity to help the younger students find importance and enjoyment in scientific inquiry. The other students found the experience gratifying, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time someone would ask a question or you would see them genuinely intrigued in what they were doing, it made me really happy,\u201d Del Priore said. \u201cI\u2019m expanding my love for science to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year, for the first time in nearly three decades, three students from Sweetwater Union High School District…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1049251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,407,1370,728,50,3549,7264,159,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1049250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-education","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-science","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117231014651837019","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1049251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}