
Area students excel at District 17 Science Day at Wilmington College
Some 65 students from Highland County and other area schools showed their research projects at Ohio’s District 17 Science Day March 15 at Wilmington College.
Participants from elementary, middle and high schools in Clinton, Fayette, Highland, and Brown counties that earned superior ratings at their individual science fairs qualified for the competition, which WC hosted for the 10th consecutive year.
Dr. Russell Kincaid, District 17 Science Day coordinator, was impressed with the quality of the projects.
“I’m always pleased with the creativity and hard work of the students,” he said. “We had 20 projects that received superior ratings, and, as a result, they have qualified for the state competition in May.”
Kincaid noted that District 17 students have a history of success at State Science Day.
Indeed, last year Rodger O. Borror Middle School in Wilmington was one of only seven schools in the state to win the Harold C. Shaw award. This year, the district has three schools eligible for the award: Lynchburg-Clay, Leesburg-Fairfield and Rodger O. Borror.
“I sincerely hope that all the students who received superior ratings will get the opportunity to compete at the state competition in May,” he said. “The dedication of the teachers and parents, as well as the efforts of the students in performing the research, is admirable.”
Student research covered a wide range of topics, including agriculture, biotechnology, energy, environmental sciences, information science and technology, botany and material science, among others.
Students represented 11 schools within Ohio’s 17th District including ECOT (the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow), Fairfield Local Middle School, Fayetteville-Perry Middle School, Georgetown Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High Schools, Hamersville Middle School, Hillsboro High School, Lynchburg-Clay High School, St. Michael’s School in Ripley and Wilmington’s Rodger O. Borror Middle School.
In Highland County, Fairfield Middle School science teacher Raymond Friend brought seven teams to Wilmington College for the event: John Grimm and Garrett Spargur, Matthew Mangus and Chloe Barber, Nicholas Tate and Tyler Barton, Blake Adams and Chelsie Hester, and Dylan Zimmerman and Tucker Ayres, Megan Stanton and Jordan Wright, and Nathan Stone and Michael Mason.
Of these students, the teams of Stone/Mason, Mangus/Barber, Grimm/Spargur and Tate/Barton qualified for the state competition.
Lynchburg-Clay High School science teacher Lara Hamilton brought 12 students including Julie Arnett, Hannah Bauer, Noah Buck, Brittany Ernst, Makayla Fittro, Halie Frazier, Hayley McConnaughey, Alex Pinkerton, Keysha Taylor, Alexis Waits, Quinn Walker and Tristan Wilbanks to the competition.
Of these students, Arnett, McConnaughey, Taylor, Walker and Wilbanks qualified for the state competition.
LeAnn Frazer from Hillsboro High School brought six students, Peyton Kidder, Meredith Oglesby, Mallory Overberg, Megan Rodgers, Tira Hope, and Anja Womelsdorf to the competition. Of these students, Kidder, Oglesby and Overberg qualified for the state.
Special awards were given which included scholarships and cash prizes.
The Ohio Soybean Council awarded a cash prize to Quinn Walker of Lynchburg-Clay High School and Peyton Kidder of Hillsboro High School while The Southwest Ohio Water Environment Association Committee awarded a cash prize to the first place team of Blake Adams and Chelsie Hester of Fairfield.
The team of Nicholas Tate and Tyler Barton from Fairfield Middle School received the Governor’s Award for Advanced Energy Research with Anja Womelsdorf of Hillsboro High School receiving the Governor’s Award for Environmental Protection Research.
Support for the district science fair was provided by a number of businesses within the 17th District, including: Generations Pizza, Damon’s Bar and Grill, Domino’s Pizza, El Dorado Mexican Restaurant, Bob Evans, Pizza Hut, and Beaugard’s BBQ in Wilmington; Dakota’s Roadhouse and La Cascada Mexican Restaurant in Hillsboro. Wilmington College provided the facilities.
Kincaid cited Dr. Chasity Coleman, assistant professor of biology at Wilmington College, for proving “invaluable” assistance in coordination of judges, scoring and prize determination. Numerous judges, including Wilmington College faculty, students, and members of the community, “graciously gave of their time to make this event possible,” he said.