We first became aware of Sonja in 2016 when she was a Timberlane Middle School eighth-grader and won first place in the 2016 DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition – Junior Division. Her essay, “Because Salamanders Cannot Speak for Themselves,” was selected from more than 9,000 entries. Her award included a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond and an all-expense-paid trip to Walt Disney World Resort. In addition, she, her mom, and science teacher, Ms. Kelli Iannacone, attended a private luncheon and an exclusive tour of the the NASA-Kennedy Space Center.
Shortly after that Sonja was one of 30 finalists in the 2016 Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Starts) competition, which challenges some of the nation’s brightest young minds to “become the STEM innovators who will tackle 21st century challenges.”
As a finalist, she received a $500 prize and made it past a field of 300 semi-finalists who each had their own innovative way of tackling a myriad of issues, ranging from environmental conservation to aerodynamics. While she competed in Washington DC, that was as far as she made it for that competition. However, at 13 years old she would have more opportunities hone her skills, contribute to environmental science, and perhaps in other competitions in the future.
Since that time Sonja has been sampling and collecting data; she wrote an algorithm that predicted the impacts of potential land development on the chemical and biological health of potentially affected streams. Her work was used in practical application by the Department of Environmental Protection. She was also a biology intern at the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association supporting research on a Dam Removal project.
She has been sharing her knowledge at environmental fairs and has written curricula about amphibians and macroinvertebrates. She has presented research to the Academy of Natural Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.
Among other awards and accomplishments, Sonja won a grand prize at the Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair in the spring of 2018.
Considering Sonja’s passion and gifts, it is not surprising that she was recognized nationally for an invention she developed in a lab in her basement that helps keep specimens alive longer. In September 2018, Sonja Michaluk, now a junior Hopewell Valley Central High School, was selected for a national Presidential award.
This time in Washington, D.C. she came away with top recognition. She participated in the 2018 Presidential Environmental Education Awards Ceremony and was awarded the United States Environmental Protection Agency President’s Environmental Youth Award.
Sonja is clearly gifted and we are certain we will be hearing more about her in the future. We are proud that she is from Hopewell Valley and proud to name her the December FoHVOS Force of Nature.
