Thirty seven students and their 19 science fair projects will advance to the regional fair at Robinson secondary school on March 15.
Sophomore Thomas White was the first place winner in the physics category. For his project, he tested the effect of temperature on battery output.
“My favorite thing about [the school-wide] science fair was being able to show off all of the hard work I put in to my project,” White sad. “My least favorite thing was having to wait for the judges to come by; they took a long time.”
Winners of the school-wide science fair were selected from six categories: General Biology, Plant Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and Earth Science.
“When I found out I had won, I was shocked,” sophomore Lisa King said. King and her partner, sophomore Jennifer Lee, won first place in the Earth Science category. “I was jumping around and really happy. For the rest of the week, I was ‘mentally celebrating’.”
The regional science fair competition is a three day long event. On day one, students set up their projects in the evening and run them past inspection. Saturday, day two, is when the projects are judged. On the last day, Sunday, March 17, the fair is open to the public from 1-3 p.m. Regionals will end with an awards ceremony on the final day from 3-5 p.m.
“This was the best year for science fair that we have had,” science fair coordinator Yaara Crane said. “We sent our top projects, and I expect that at least half of them should be able to win an award at regionals.”
The regional contestants have been busy improving their projects for the upcoming event. They are allowed to continue collecting and analyzing data, but they must maintain the same procedure.
“I am looking forward to seeing the other experiment and seeing how they compare to my own,” White said. “To prepare, I have practiced giving a presentation of my project at home several times.”
With any luck, regional science fair contestants will earn high marks from the judges and perhaps even advance to the state science fair competition.
