Winning an award is nice, of course, but that’s only a small reason to do a science fair project. There’s learning about science, how to conduct an experiment and working with others to achieve a goal. And competing itself is its own reward, say alumni of the International Science and Engineering Fair.
This week, more than 1,700 teens have gathered online and in Atlanta, Ga., for the 2022 Regeneron. These high-school students have competed in science fairs across the globe for the right to show off their work. Now they’re vying for nearly $8 million in scholarships and other prizes. (This annual competition is held by the Society for Science, which also publishes Science News for Students.)
To get a bit of insight into the experience, Science News for Students spoke with four recent competitors. Here’s what they said about competing in the so-called Olympics of science fairs
“One of the biggest things is just picking a topic that you find interesting,” Jacob says. “Some students will try to do something that they think will win. And it makes it harder to put in a lot of work in time, if your heart’s not in it.” Some of the best projects, he adds, involve combining multiple interests.
“Staying on top of the news,” Jacob says. “Our middle school teacher showed us Science News and a couple of other websites that he just suggested reading every day, so that it got your brain thinking about: What do we know in science? And what don’t we know? And then, finding the middle ground of what we do know and what we don’t know to create your own project.”
Rimoldi competed in 2018, 2019 and 2021. Her first projects investigated materials to limit radiation given off by smartphones. She then started studying how corals communicate through sound waves. Rimoldi is currently a freshman at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter.
When she first started studying corals, Rimoldi tried growing them at home. “It’s the hardest thing ever!” she says. “I don’t recommend it.” For one thing, “the corals were very sensitive.” Also, creating a realistic ecosystem required filling the tank with fish, crabs and other creatures. “The crabs and the shrimp just went after every single fish,” she says. “But the bright side of that project was that I was able to see that there were some acoustical sounds being emitted from the corals.” The next year, Rimoldi studied sound wave–related genes in corals at a research lab
“I was very shy, as a middle schooler and in elementary. Because, when I moved here from Argentina, I did not know English,” Rimoldi says. But presenting at science fairs helped Rimoldi gain confidence in talking to strangers. “At first, my face would get super red when they’d ask me a question,” she says. “But later I realized, well, hey. I’m the one who did all this work. I know all this information.” Wanting to enjoy the social events pushed her to be more outgoing, too. “If you’re shy and standing back,” she says, “you’re not gonna get the same out of those events as someone who might be more confident.”
In 2016, Vega competed a project that simulated radioactive decay. In 2017, he returned as part of a team that built a hydroelectric energy generator. Today, he’s a product manager at Apple in San Francisco, Calif
You must be logged in to post a comment.