Carmel Science Research: Student Spotlight

Anna Parzych is a junior in the science research program at Carmel. She is beginning year two of the Mianus High School Mentorship in Ecology at Mianus River Gorge in Bedford, New York. The Mianus High School Mentorship in Ecology provides research opportunities to high-school students in the fields of ecology, conservation biology and wildlife biology. Throughout her study, she has been researching the prevalence of salamanders throughout the Mianus River Gorge nature preserve with the assistance and supervision of her mentor, Norman Budd Veverka. The study has a spring and fall data collection session. Over the summer, Anna used soil samples (which were collected during the spring 2026 session) to calculate the pH and soil moisture from all 12 of the data collection sites. Since the fall session has started, she has continued to gather data and has experienced a substantial increase in her salamander number compared to the spring 2026 session. She hopes to present her research at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF) and the Taconic Hill Symposium.