By Andria Bloom, Science Fair Coordinator and 7th Grade Science Teacher

The competition was fierce as ten of our local El Tejon Unified School District students (nine from El Tejon School, and one from Pine Mountain Learning Center) took the Rabobank Convention Center stage on Wednesday, April 2 to compete at the 21st annual Kern County Science Fair in Bakersfield.

Four of the students walked away with the first place awards in their categories, an impressive first for our district.

Representing grades 4-8 for ETUSD, our contestants were proud to bring home a total of seven awards (four of which were 1st place). With 149 schools competing in grades 4-12 and over 700 projects in a variety of categories, this is quite an accomplishment.

To compete at the county level, our students were required to conduct a scientific experiment of their choosing, compile a logbook, a report, a display board and then explain their findings orally to judges.

After placing at the district level, students went on to county where the entries were judged on scientific thought and understanding, originality and creativity, organization and completeness, effort and motivation, and clarity.

Fourth and fifth grade students competed among their grade level, while sixth through eighth competed in the middle school division.

Our students have been working diligently since January to test, report and revise their projects to make them as competitive as possible. The results really paid off this year. Congratulations to the following contenders for their achievements at the county fair:

Fifth Grade (Mrs. Cline) – Honorable Mention

Laura Jennings was awarded an honorable mention in the Plant Biology category for her project, "Chemical Chaos."

Seventh Grade (Mrs. Bloom) – First Place Awards

Christian Brown won first place in the Chemistry category for his project, "Watered Down Facts." He received a $75 award from the American Chemistry Association (ACA).

Forrest Csulak was awarded first place in the Electricity and Electronics category for his project, "Edison’s Bright Idea." In addition to this, Forrest was the recipient of a medallion and certificate from the United States Navy. The Department of Naval Sciences issues these awards to recognize outstanding projects in areas pertaining to naval interests.

Melissa Gore won first place in the Pharmacology and Biochemistry category for her project, "Algae vs. Acid." In addition to this, Melissa was the recipient of a $75 cash award for excellence and also a $75 award from the ACA

Eighth Grade (Mr. Mullen/Mrs.Bloom) – First Place Award

Josh Arreola was awarded first place in the Earth and Environmental Science category for his project, "Lets Turn Up the Heat! Making the Most Efficient Solar Water Panel." In addition to this, Josh was the recipient of a medallion and certificate from the United States Navy.

These are not the only students who have made us proud though. Special acknowledgments also go out to the rest of the students who competed at county. Lily Hallmark, Jillian Carlson, Charity David, Sagen Fowler and Stephen Downs also deserve to be recognized for their dedication, perseverance and outstanding scientific progress.

Thanks as well to all of our district-level judges this year. Lisa Arreola, Catherine Hallmark, Dick Albright, Abbe Gore, Bill Hornback and Dr. Gregg Wilkerson were all kind enough to volunteer their time and expertise to help judge our projects at the local level. Lisa Arreola and Dr. Bryan Hallmark also volunteered additional time to help coach students for county competitions. All of these volunteer efforts have certainly helped contribute to our success this year.

The 57th annual California State Science Fair will be on May 20 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles where our four first-place winners (Christian Brown, Forrest Csulak, Melissa Gore and Josh Arreola) will compete.

Congratulations to these students for making it to state. Best of luck to them in the upcoming competition. Stay tuned for more details about this exciting event.

This is part of the April 11, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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