Impact Expo: student projects at Buffalo State University

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Hundreds of students from schools across Western New York packed up their billboards, ready to present Monday at Buffalo State.

Each college student was able to choose their own research topic.

There was a wide range of ideas from sound aiding healing, to designing paper airplanes, to gluten-free food and sleep.

“My essential question is: what is the impact of sleep on an adolescent’s mental and physical health? “I chose this because I was having trouble sleeping and wanted to find a way to sleep better,” said Savannah Smith, an 8th grader at Lewiston-Porter. “Sleep is one of the most important things we need to succeed in school.”

“Everything here is student-driven, so they connect things that interest them, parts of their identity, do research and then present it to other people,” said Melanie Kitchen, Erie 1 BOCES instructional technology coordinator .

Four hundred middle school students were present at the conference bringing together 11 school districts.