Feature Photo By: Irl Paulalengan – Junior Pearl Bilson explains her science project to other students. “I think it’s interesting and I’m glad we’re doing [the Rangeview Science and Engineering Fair],” Bilson stated.
Hundreds of students, hundreds of projects. Just fifteen were selected; fourteen were displayed to start a new school event: The Rangeview High School Science Fair.
On January 8th, Rangeview held its first science fair in the school’s history, according to its directors. The event was held in the College and Career Center (CCC), where students and staff stopped by to review different science projects.
“I believe at this time, there is a gap between what we teach at school and what we actually need for the next wave of new innovative products in our society,” science teacher Mr. Kintz explained.
Ms. Jaiyesimi, a new Rangeview administrator and the coordinator of the science fair, came up with the idea when she found out that Rangeview had never done a science fair before.
“Now, there is science happening in classrooms, and some teachers have displayed it in the hallway so people could see, but no a formalized science fair having coordinators,” Jaiyesimi stated. “…Which we did this year.”
The projects that were displayed varied through different branches of science, including engineering science, plant science, and material science.
“I think it’s cool,” Gloria Maboussou, a junior participant stated. “People coming to see our project and actually being interested with science.”
The planning started in August, Jaiyesimi said. Being the first at Rangeview, the science fair required a lot of preparation for gathering interest and securing a budget, as well as getting teachers to be judges.
“It is a several month process, indeed,” Jaiyesimi affirmed. “…It’s still going.”
Last quarter, Kintz’s honor biology classes were assigned an individual science project where students could determine their projects based on their interests.
Each week, students got homework in order to complete the project.
“… including developing their hypothesis and background research,” Kintz explained.
In addition, every Friday, students had their class time to work on their projects. From there, fifteen were selected for the Rangeview Science Fair.
The science fair itself has the purpose to, “allow students to conduct their independent science investigation,” Jaiyesimi said.
Students got to showcase their project within larger audiences in the school. Students also got to explore creativity in creating innovations from their project.
Judged by Rangeview’s very own educators and peer-reviewed by students from science classes, the fourteen projects received a lot of positive feedback, many agree.
Though the event was held the second day back from winter break, the participants were still enthusiastic about the fair and their projects.
“The science fair went better than I expected. Students were actively participating,” Kintz stated. “There seem to be all the pieces in place in order to make this reality. I was surprised by the number of teachers that came by to the science fair to review the projects.”
So, after this science fair, what’s next?
“So, there is actually another fair, it’s called Denver Metro Regional Science Fair,” Jaiyesimi answered. “The top project winners from here [sic.] is going to advance to that fair. All expenses paid,” she added.
Students will get a scholarship to go to the Denver Metro Regional Science Fair and the transportation to Denver will be provided by the school.
From there, students have the chance to possibly advance into the state and even national level.
“I think it’s interesting and I’m glad that we’re doing this,” Junior Pearl Bilson stated. “You can get a scholarship if you go to Denver. It’s a great thing for everyone that interested in science.”
Some suggestions by those involved in this year’s fair to make it better in the future:
- Get more students to participate in the fair.
- Have a bigger space for the displays.
- Start the process earlier so students will have more time to prepare.
- Instead of chromebooks, the presentations will be done on tri-fold displays.
- Get judges from outside of Rangeview, possibly people that worked in the science field.
- On a long term scale, create an Aurora Public School science fair that includes the top science projects across APS.
“I feel like it went really well and I feel like there’s always a room for growth,” Ms. Jaiyesimi said. “…We are gonna make it bigger and better next year.”
