Two Hampton High School seniors were recognized during the Sept. 5 school board meeting for their academic achievements.

Justine Sullivan and Tiffany Habib were acknowledged for their research projects that were published in the fall version of The Young Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal for secondary education students. Both Hampton students were members of the advanced placement research class taught by Shannon Roos.

Tiffany’s project focused on telepsychiatry — using interactive audio, visual and data communications for treatment — and its potential benefits for Allegheny County Jail inmates.

“I always wanted to do research about medicine because that’s the field I want to get into,” she said. “I read a survey by the University of Pittsburgh about mental health in prisons, so I thought this would make a great topic for my paper.” she said.

After much research, she concluded that mental health workers in prisons would welcome more telepsychiatry and believe that it could solve problems with staffing and related issues.

“Tiffany is a wonderful student,” high school Principal Marguerite Imbarlina said. “She is very active in clubs. She is a soccer player, and she really values both academics and being involved in her school community which is great.”

She is no stranger to academic awards, either.

“Tiffany was highlighted earlier in the year with fellow African-American student LaNiya Ward for receiving the National African American Recognition Award. LaNiya is another great student,” said Imbarlina.

Tiffany is undecided on which university she will attend, but the University of Pittsburgh is high on her list because of its well-known medical school.

Justine did her project on election theory. She focused on the 2022 U.S. Senate race and looked at alternative voting methods.

“Mrs. Roos really set the foundation for our research and guided me through the project. She was great,” she said.

She also complimented her 10th-grade statistics teacher Kathy Dickensheets, who has since retired.

“My stats class really helped when I was gathering all my data. Having that solid background was helpful for this project,” Justine said.

She was flanked by her mother, Kris, and father Tom, when she received the school board acknowledgement.

“We are just proud of her. She dug in and did it all herself,” said Tom.

Kris was surprised by the responses that Justine got.

“I just thought it was impressive the way that people reached back out to her and were so helpful. It was like people were really interested in her work and wanted to help,” said Kris.

Justine complimented the help of many people but said that one Libertarian party member really took an interest in her work.

“Roy Minet was a huge help with my project,” she said.

Her principal praised Justine.

“She is another awesome student,” said Imbarlina.”She is really involved in afterschool activities. She helps with the unified bocce team, which is part of the Special Olympics. It teaches students with intellectual disabilities how to play bocce.”

Justine is also uncommitted on where she will attend college, but Carnegie Mellon University is high on her list.

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