Budding Researchers Put Skills to the Test
For the record, bread lasts longer in the refrigerator than in a bread basket, people back out of parking spaces faster if someone is waiting for the space, and certain video games can improve a student’s grade point average.
These and other deep questions, some of which have baffled society for years--or maybe a day or two--were answered by student scientists at the 43rd annual Orange County Science and Engineering Fair on Wednesday.
Four hundred seventh- to 12th-graders competed in 17 junior and senior divisions and on Sunday will be awarded with medallions and cash prizes of as much as $100. A lucky few will move on to a state and possibly a national competition. Private corporations and educational institutions from throughout Orange County are funding the fair’s set-up and prizes.
The judges, who were divided into five- to six-person expert panels from a field of 100 scientists, read through written presentations and conducted five-minute interviews with the students to review project methodology and conclusions during the daylong competition at the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center.
On most days, Pamela Strong, who is an actual rocket scientist for Boeing, helps make key decisions concerning payload potentials for Titan, Delta, C-17 and MD-90 spacecraft.
But on Wednesday, Strong who has worked in 11 different scientific fields, spent her day judging projects in the pharmacology division of the fair, and listening to presentations from students not yet born when she got her master’s in organic chemistry from Bryn Mawr College.
Strong began her day of interviews with students at 9 a.m., toting her folders full of notes, and her wooden cane with the head of a bloodhound, to the colorful poster board titled, “The Bacterial Potency of Chemical Agents on the Growth of Staphylococcus Bacteria.”
The young scientist, Rob Parke, a 16-year-old junior from Mater Dei High, has a first-place ribbon from last year’s county competition and went onto the state competition.
“It was hard to believe some of the projects at the state competition were done by students my age,” said Parke, who uses a wheelchair as a result of brittle bone disease. “There was one about eyesight that had lasers.”
He explained to Strong how his experiment involving petri dishes and coffee filters revealed that triclosan, a chemical found in an over-the-counter hand soap, proved to be the best bacteria killer.
“I contracted a staph infection a couple years ago when I was in the hospital,” Parke said.
When Parke completed his presentation, Strong complimented him on his project but couldn’t leave without teaching.
“Your project was very well done, but when and if you go to the state competition, I think you should . . . “ she began.
Sharon Writer, president of the Orange County Science and Engineering board, and a physical science teacher at Villa Park High School, said competition and awards are not the sole focus of the competition.
“Sometimes, students don’t get as much attention as they want because of large classrooms,” Writer said. “The projects give students the chance to get one-to-one help after school and on weekends. Students really interested in something are allowed to step forward if they have the initiative and use more effort.”