15 Projects Qualify for State Science Day
Wilmington College hosted the state of Ohio’s District 17 Science Day March 21, marking the 10th consecutive year as 43 high school, middle school and elementary students from Clinton, Fayette, Highland and Brown Counties presented their research projects.
(LEFT) Emma Helbling, a sixth grade student at St. Michael School in Brown County, explains to Dr. Russell Kincaid her project, "At What Temperature Does Glass Leave Behind the Clearest and Most Visible Fingerprints?"
These students all earned superior ratings at their local science fairs in order to advance to the district competition, where top projects are eligible to advance to the State Science Day. Due to construction of the Center for the Sciences and Agriculture, the event was moved from the usual venue to Hermann Court.
Dr. Russell Kincaid, associate professor of mathematics at WC is the Science Day coordinator. He expressed his pleasure with the quality of the projects.
“As always, I am impressed at the projects that our students take on,” he said “The dedication of the teachers and parents, as well as the efforts of the students in performing the research, is admirable.”
Some 15 projects received superior ratings and qualified for the state competition in May.
Kincaid noted that District 17 students typically do well at State Science Day, and he looks forward to seeing how many superiors they receive at state this year. In addition, for the first time this year, there was an opportunity for the high school students to qualify for the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair, and six met the criteria to represent the district there.
The students presented research on projects that covered a wide range of topics including agriculture, biotechnology, energy, environmental sciences, information science and technology, botany and material science.
Students represented nine schools within Ohio’s 17th District, including: ECOT (the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow), Fairfield Middle School, Georgetown Junior High and Senior High Schools, Hamersville Middle School, Lynchburg-Clay High School, St. Michael’s School in Ripley, Wilmington’s Rodger O Borror Middle School and Wilmington High School. In addition, students from Mother Teresa Catholic School in Liberty Township, who were unable to attend their district’s science day in Cincinnati, were in attendance.
Wilmington Middle School students Claire Greenlees and Mackenzie Snarr represented Rodger O Borror Middle School. Claire qualified for the state competition, and Mackenzie won a scholarship for the B Wiser summer science camp for 8th grade girls. Avery Greenlees, from Wilmington High School, qualified for the state science day competition, as well as qualifying for the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair.
From Brown County, Ashley Jakeway of Fayetteville represented ECOT at the district competition, Ashley received the third place prize from the Southwest Ohio Water Environment Association and an Ohio Soybean Bioscience Award. Hamersville Middle School sent Ryan Craig and Rose Dean to the competition, and Ryan qualified for the state competition, while Rose won a scholarship for the B Wiser summer science camp for 8th grade girls.
Georgetown students Karragan Bellamy, Jenna Griffith, Shelby Griffith, Koby Hyde, Danielle Williams and Austin Blessing all competed, with Karragan winning a scholarship for the B Wiser summer science camp for 8th grade girls, while Jenna won an Ohio Soybean Bioscience Award and Shelby qualified for both state science day and for the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair.
St. Michael’s School in Ripley sent five students to this year’s competition, including Emerson Day, Emma Helbling, Jacob Meranda, Lily Fryman and Caroline Day. Emerson, Caroline, Emma, and Jacob all qualified for the state competition. In addition, Jacob received the first place prize from the Southwest Ohio Water Environment Association, as well as winning an Ohio Soybean Bioscience Award. Caroline received the second place prize from the Southwest Ohio Water Environment Association.
From Highland County, Fairfield Middle School sent eight teams to Wilmington College for the event: Brianna Burleson and Brandtson Duffie, Conner Shoemaker and Phoenix Taylor, Austin Setty and Kami Magee, Dale Back and Megan Gragg, Brianna Barnes and Lauren Arnold, Layne Morgan and Teigan Thackston, Trinity Huff and Haven Woods, and Riley Friend and Garrett Irvin. Of these students, the teams of Burleson/Duffie, Shoemaker/Taylor, Friend/Irvin and Setty/Magee all qualified for the state competition.
Lynchburg-Clay High sent six students to the competition including Grace Brownsberger, Dylan Coleman, Makayla Creed, Alex Lynch, Keyara Oaks, and Madison Smith. Grace, Makayla, and Madison qualified for both the state science day competition and the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair, while Alex qualified for the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair.
Mother Teresa Catholic School in Liberty Township sent three students, Claudia Butterfield, Grace Dinkelaker, and Ashley Evans to the District 17 event, and each of these students earned a scholarship for the B Wiser summer science camp for 8th grade girls.
Kincaid cited the assistance required to successfully host the science day.
“Dr. Elizabeth Haynes, assistant professor of mathematics at Wilmington College, provided invaluable assistance in coordination of judges and scoring and prize determination,” he said.
“Also, numerous judges, including Wilmington College faculty, students and members of the community, graciously gave of their time to make this event possible. The time and efforts of all these individuals, as well as the students, teachers, and parents, made this event a success.”
