Mazatlicas returns with a gold medal from the International Science Festival

Mazatlan: Natalia, Genesis, and Samantha arrive in Mazatlan with their advisor, teacher Judith, who is making history by winning the First Medal and the Gold Medal at the International Science Festival in Romania.

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The talented students of Vasconcelos High School return to the port with another success thanks to their impressive performance and perseverance in presenting the shrimp bioplastic project that seeks to be an alternative to single-use plastics, an issue that aroused interest in the international competitions they attended.

On behalf of the Municipal Government of Mazatlan, the Director of IMJU, Luis Vargas, went to the airport to greet them and congratulate Edgar González, Mayor of Mazatlan and those who make up the administration.

How did the project start?

It all started with the invitation to Expo Ciencias Sinaloa 2022, to which the girls without hesitation decided to register. At first they had no idea what project they were going to present, but they were sure that it must be original, innovative and have a positive impact on society.

After being advised by their mentor, Judith Rebeca González Muñoz, they chose to focus on creating a project that would cover the need to avoid plastic pollution, and the challenge was to do so with an item typical of the area. There they got the idea to try the shrimp shell.

All of the experiments were done in the school lab, and the way they were able to make the plastic was very handmade as they didn’t have all the tools, even though the girls made bioplastic.

“What you’re doing is replacing plastic with shrimp waste, we take whatever crustaceans are not used to produce biocompatible plastics to reduce pollution,” explained Samantha Carrasco.

Why shrimp? Natalia Quetzalli explained that they chose shrimp because of the characteristics of these crustaceans. It contains chitin, a natural polymer that helps replace plastic.

Meet the girls

Samantha Carrasco Tovar

One of the things she likes most is helping others, through science and medicine, as a doctor she wants to help many people. Once a professional, he would like to support children and adults in rural communities. One of his goals is to specialize in otolaryngology or neonatology.

Natalia Quetzallee Martinez

She is passionate about biology, and her goal is to study biotechnology engineering and specialize abroad, because she believes that in this way she can transfer all the beauty that Mexico has to other countries and thus create more diversity.

Genesis Ion Loza

She enjoys dancing and the arts, but science is one of her hobbies and although she is unsure of what direction to go in, she wants a career that focuses on health because that is what she loves. Genesis wants to leave an impact in this world, he does not want to be an ordinary person, but an extraordinary person, so how will he do that? Contribute with their grains of sand to building a better society