Reitz Journalism

If you’re interested in science, then you’ve probably done a few science fairs in your school career. In elementary school, it’s all about making the volcanoes, but high school gets a little more complex. This year Mrs. Walsh and Mr. Hartman’s advanced chemistry classes competed in the 59th annual Pott Foundation Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair for a class grade. This was the third year that USI has hosted the science fair. The science fair had a total of over 465 exhibits from area middle and high schools.
Science fair categories included behavioral and social sciences, botany, chemistry and biochemistry, computer sciences, earth and space sciences, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, medicine, health, microbiology, physics, and zoology. Some categories are more popular than others, “I was the only one that did a science fair in my category so I automatically won an award and that was pretty cool,” says Jennifer Hart. Although science fair projects can be extremely time consuming and sometimes stressful, the classes began their projects at the beginning of the school year and deadlines were spaced out, so they had plenty of time to complete all of the requirements. The Pott Foundation Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair took place on March 11th at USI and the awards ceremony took place on Wednesday March 12th.
Science fair is not just about making an attractive poster for everyone to see. There is a lot more hard work that goes into it, but in the end it is a good feeling to have accomplished the hard work you put into the project, and having something to show for it. Paperwork, experiments, written research papers, and the final board are just a few of the things that participants had to complete for the science fair.
On March 12th students participating in the science fair set up their boards and a number of judges judged the projects on creative ability, scientific thought, thoroughness, skill, and a verbal and visual explanation of the project. If that list intimidates you, then maybe the fact that most of the participants actually won an award in their area will make you relax a little.
Many of the participants from both classes won an award and some even won multiple awards six $1,500 scholarships, cash prizes, and plaques.
Haley McConnell, a sophomore, was a grand alternate winner, winning a $1,500 four-year renewable scholarship to USI and a Gateway laptop computer.
“There were a lot of projects and judges, and it made me nervous but I knew i had worked hard on my project,” says McConnell.
She also competed at the Hoosier State Science Fair on April 5, 2008 at Depauw University, and has a chance to move on to the Intel International Science Fair.
Also winning a $1,500 University of Southern Indiana four-year renewable scholarship was Brian Thompson, a senior in Mrs. Walsh’s Advanced Chemistry class.