On January 17th, Hardee Junior High held its annual Science Fair where various community members judged sixty-three student projects from grades 6th-8th. A science fair is an opportunity for students to do an independent science project following the scientific method.
Students begin planning their projects as early as September and continue working on them up until January when the annual Science Fair is held. Science Fair participants included students from the three STEM elective classes, which are new to Hardee Junior High this school year. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math. The STEM elective classes focus on these four subjects to boost student interest in these particular career paths. Students with a strong interest in STEM choose to take the STEM class as an elective. Micaela Ford teaches sixth and seventh-grade STEM classes, and Kim McGuckin teaches the eighth-grade STEM class.
Students were judged on their creativity, level of difficulty, the experimental design of their project, research paper, log book, and backboard display. Students were also tasked with giving an oral interview to two judges who were paired and had background knowledge about the student’s category. Categories for this year's Science Fair included; Animal Science, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, and Plant Sciences. During the oral interview, students must explain in detail the research question and why they chose the topic, the experimental process, what they found in their research, their hypothesis, and the data they collected. The data will either support or not support their hypothesis. Students then elaborate on any changes or improvements they would make to their experiment in the future.
Of the sixty-three projects entered, fifteen blue ribbon or first-place projects were judged again in a second round to vie for the top ten placement and cash prizes. The 15 blue ribbon winners include fourteen Hardee Junior High students and one student from Alane Academy, Bodhi Derringer. Students were given a few minutes to present their project again to all twelve judges. After their presentation, students were asked additional questions from various judges. Judges scored the projects again and the top ten projects and placements are determined from these scores. Nineteen students received third-place white ribbons, eleven received second-place red ribbons, and fifteen received first-place blue ribbons. Winning first place for the overall science fair was Carolin Cornell, second place was Lainey Johnson, and third place was Rylan Smith. All blue ribbon winners will be moving on to represent Hardee County in the Heartland Regional Science Fair at South Florida State College in Avon Park on Wednesday, February 7th.
Students who participated in the Science Fair were treated to breakfast and lunch provided by Hardee Junior High School. Our community judges were also treated to breakfast and lunch on the day of the Science Fair. Students received medals, trophies (top three), and cash prizes (top ten), based on their placement. The annual science fair would not be possible without our community participants and sponsors. Hardee Junior High School would like to thank MOSAIC and the Hardee Educational Foundation for their continued sponsorship of successful events such as these.
These students will be representing HJH at the Heartland Regional Science Fair on February 7th.
Front Row: Layla King, Bella Medina, Rylan Smith, Amari Prieto, Jurnee Myers, Brielle Medina, Natalie Hines, Anderson Gray
Back Row: Ethan Southwell, Ross Rivas, Lainey Johnson, Caroline Cornell, Violet Johnson, Allyson Johnson
Not pictured is Bodhi Derringer from Alane Academy
Top 3 in the Hardee Jr High Science Fair
Lainey Johnson, Caroline Cornell, Rylan Smith
First Place Winner, Caroline Cornell
Second Place Winner, Lainey Johnson
Third Place Winner, Rylan Smith