Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Spokane, WA – A change has occurred for the Odessa High School STEM researchers. After more than a decade of attending the Tri-Cities Regional Science Fair, this year a new regional fair opened up in Spokane on the WSU-Spokane campus. After a six-hour day of presenting their research to experts in the field, the scientists at the OHS Advanced STEM Research Laboratory exhibited their academic prowess in science and engineering at the Eastern Washington Regional Science and Engineering Fair on Thursday, March 14, 2019 (Pi Day)!
Nearly 200 high school student researchers from 1B to 4A schools represented the finest scientific minds vying for top prizes in STEM related categories.
There are three rounds of judging, with the questions by the judges in each round and category becoming harder and harder to answer regarding the students’ research. As in other competitions, the students in science fairs are eligible to earn a first place in a particular category, such as environmental biology, physics or computer science. Unlike other competitions, however, all of the first place awardees are pitted against one another to earn overall prizes for the entire science fair. Instead of many students advancing onward to the International Science and Engineering Fair, those students must present their research better than all of the other first place winners until there is only one (or sometimes two) grand award(s). Only a handful of students represent each state of the United States, and many times Odessa students are competing against one another for the overall grand prize. All of the students’ research was incredible and earned the following recognition for their dedicated efforts:
Josie Westmoreland, “Brake Pad Dust Particulates on the Fertility and Vitality Rates of Drosophila melanogaster”
- First Place Overall, Senior Division, Spokane
- First Place, Senior Division Award in the Category of Animal Sciences, Spokane
- International Science & Engineering Fair Award, Phoenix, Ariz.
Destiny German, “Purification of Water through Low Voltage Electrolysis Utilizing Graphene Electrodes”
- First Place Overall, Senior Division, Spokane
- First Place, Senior Division Award in the Category of Environmental Sciences, Spokane
- International Science & Engineering Fair Alternate, Phoenix, Ariz.
Megan Shafer, “Phytoremediation of Radioactive Metals Using Helianthus (Mammoth Sunflowers)”
- First Place Senior Division Award in the Category of Environmental Sciences, Spokane
Natosha Boss, “The Effect of Perfluorooctanoic Acid on Sleep Pattern and Longevity of Drosophila melanogaster”
- First Place Senior Division Award in the Category of Biomedical Sciences, Spokane
Maddie Scrupps, “Novel Casein Detection Indicator”
- First Place Senior Division Award in the Category of Biomedical Sciences, Spokane
Colton Messer, “Harvesting Electricity Using Dual Oscillating Motors”
- First Place Senior Division Award in the Category of Engineering, Spokane
As the overall first place awardee, Josie earned an all-expenses-paid trip to present her research at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), sponsored in part by Intel. ISEF hosts nearly 2,000 high school students from around the world, the largest pre-college science competition, held this year in Phoenix, Ariz., May 13-18, 2019.
The OHS-ASR Laboratory researchers now prepare for the Washington State Science Fair in Bremerton, Wash., March 29-31, 2019. The Odessa Science Department appreciates the incredible support of the Odessa community. Those who would like to see what the researchers are up to each week can visit the student-driven website at http://www.wehrdscience.com/ASR and/or follow the students on Twitter @ohsASR.
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