Middle School Science Fair
 | Author:
Mikayla Kraft, School Correspondent
MT43 News School Correspondent |
Middle School Science Fair Mikayla Kraft, School Correspondent Middle school students all over the state and country are searching for what they may want to pursue for a future career. They have their classes, but not many of those students get the opportunity to fully explore their potential to excel in a generalized field.
The state-wide middle school Science Fair gives these students a chance to explore a simple scientific question that could eventually turn into a large interest in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) career fields. I had the opportunity to get a first-hand glance at the spark Science Fair had created for these students.
Overall, twenty-one students qualified for state. This means that seven students from each grade qualified for the state competition and will compete on April 3rd in Missoula at the University of Montana.
I interviewed a few participators and a qualifier for the state Science Fair competition to get their view of the benefits of the Science Fair.
Tavyn Anderson, an 8th-grade student, participated in the science fair. Just like many students, he only has a vague idea of what he wants to do after high school. He plans to at least go to college for basketball; what he will study, he does not know. He had no clue what he would test, so after he got a little advice from his teacher, Mrs. Shearer, he decided to “test which surfaces in the school held the most bacteria,” concluding that a “desk held more germs than even a chair”. This tested his ability to speak to people and it is a moment he will not forget.
Ava Tiffany studied the Law of Conservation of Mass between different substances and even though she also didn’t qualify for state, she was so excited to have the ability to participate and conduct her project.
Last but not least, I spoke to Jazel Ragen, another 8th-grade student who qualified for the state competition. She is excited to attend the state competition even though she is nervous. She has been to the state-level competition so she is prepared to compete. She tested “whether the coating on medicated pills affects how well they disperse into the body” because she experiences a lot of headaches and muscle aches and wanted to solve that issue for herself and others.
She competes in the Conduct of Chapter Meetings FFA competition and she believes that this improved her public speaking skills and is excited to utilize those skills. Preparation held ups and downs but she believes that this is going to prepare her for life outside of school in the long run.
A lesson she learned from qualifying for state was that “appearance and attitude will get you really far"; it is important to use those skills and more to the best of your ability in everything that is done, even if it fails or doesn’t meet personal expectations.
Science Fair has been helping many generations of students and this year students continued to surprise the community adult judges with their dedication to an experiment that held their interest.
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PhotoCredit: Mikayla Kraft)
Image 1 Caption: Amanda Hazlett judging a science fair project Photo Credit: Mikayla Kraft)
