The coronavirus pandemic hit Ohio just as local students were gearing up to participate in regional and district science fairs...
District Science Day
The coronavirus pandemic hit Ohio just as local students were gearing up to participate in regional and district science fairs. They had qualified for the advanced fairs by performing well at their school-level science fairs in January and February and would have faced tough competition for prizes from local and national science organizations.
Needless to say, student scientists were disappointed, though understanding, when the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair (NEOSEF) at Cleveland State University, which would have taken place March 9-12, was canceled. When school buildings were closed, students assumed they were also saying goodbye to their opportunity to compete at District 5 Science Day at the University of Akron, which was scheduled for March 21.
Luckily, District 5 Science Day organizer Laurel Lohrey persisted and adapted to the circumstances. Students were given the opportunity to submit materials digitally for judging, including a written report, photographs of their posters, answers to additional questions and videotaped speech. Lohrey held training for over 100 volunteer virtual judges, so that students could be judged as fairly as possible. Each student’s project was reviewed by two judges.
St. Helen School science teacher Natalie Hudak was impressed at the tenacity of students in completing all of the additional tasks. Four students representing St. Helen School participated, including seventh-graders Luke Nedved and Olivia Lewis and eighth-graders Summer Hudak and Tuscani Orris. All four received Superior scores on their projects and qualified to participate in State Science Day. Virtual judging for State Science Day will take place May 26 to June 2.
