2 Students Finalists in Science Competition

Two Van Nuys High School students who created offbeat household gadgets are among 100 finalists--and just six from California--in the 15th annual Duracell-National Science Teachers Assn. Scholarship Competition.

Sophomore Allison Kolpas and junior Sangtip Chienpradap are guaranteed $200 in savings bonds. On Tuesday, they will submit their inventions to the judges and await word on whether they are winners of the $20,000 first prize.

Allison calls her invention the BLT-- for bird language trainer. It is a mirrored perch that senses when a pet bird sits on it, activating a nearby tape recorder that plays a continuous loop of a simple word or phrase.

The inventor maintains that after a few days using the device, her parakeet Peeper learned to say, “Give me a kiss.”

“I noticed she loved to look at herself in the mirror,” Allison said. “I also found that when I would repeat a word to try to teach her, it would lose her attention. This way, she thinks she’s seeing a friend and that’s why she talks.”

Sangtip focuses on a human foible: some people’s reluctance to wake up in the morning. Her invention is an amplified alarm clock attached to a pillow. Even after it is shut off, it sounds again if a person’s head returns to the pillow.

“It’s kind of a clever device,” said Reggie Hendrickson, who teaches biology in the school’s math/science magnet. “It’s loud and so annoying you have to get up.”

Van Nuys High, which won the 1995 National Science Bowl, has long been a strong science school. But Hendrickson said this is the first year his students have entered the national contest.

“I’m amazed at the creativity,” he said. “And, of course, I’m pleased that two of our students have been recognized.”