Early in the school year, students in Ms. Knight’s Intensified Biology classes started planning for their science fair project. They carefully thought of a project idea, went to Ms. Knight, and then returned to their seat to think of a new one. And so this pattern continued, a full week of students deliberating, printing out forms, getting forms signed, typing out a research doc, and then having to start from scratch when their idea was not approved. Finally, projects were approved and students could finally close the numerous tabs that covered their computer screen. However,  this was only the start of the long journey to perfecting a science project. 

Ms. Maskeloney’s statistics class made a surprise visit, dragging chairs from across the hallway. Students learned about different statistical tests and how to use Microsoft Excel to analyze their data. The students were uncharacteristically shy, slightly intimidated by all of their cool upperclassmen. 

When winter break rolled around, students were ecstatic. Finally they were free to sleep in, play video games and do absolutely nothing school related. Oh, how wrong they were. Students were to finish collecting data before they returned to school. Upon returning, several students reported that they coped with the loss of their winter break by putting off their experiment until the very last day.

Now with all of their data collected, they could start the writing process. Over class the next few days, students wrote lengthy introductions, procedures and conclusions. Pulling out their fanciest vocabulary to make their writing sound professional. The motto students seemed to be following was the longer the better. 

This project had started early October and it was now February, the looming presence of the Science Fair was closer than ever. Students again sacrificed their weekend to make graphs, summarize paragraphs, print, glue, and decorate their boards. One student shared that they had to reprint the pages 5 times because the text was too small. Running up and down the stairs and wasting a lot of paper.  Everyone collectively complained to each other about how the board seemed to grow bigger every time. Bringing their boards in the next morning was definitely a challenge. “This was the earliest I have ever gotten to school,” one student said. Taking the bus must have been a struggle. Half of the students crammed onto an already full bus bringing large boards that were prone to opening. If you didn’t hold the board in the middle the panels on the side would flip open, taking up even more space and endangering your board to injury. 

The morning of the Science Fair was chaotic. Students running up to the biology classroom to hastily make last minute changes to their boards. Once boards were set up and ready, the nerves had finally set in. The judges slowly descending down the stairs threw every prepared and organized speech out of their brains. Luckily for the students, the judges were friendly and understanding, letting the students take the lead in explaining their project. Asking questions and seeming genuinely interested in the projects the students had spent the last few months dedicated to. 

The students whose experiments had impressed the judges the most were awarded 1st place. Everyone else 2nd, 3rd and Honourable Mention based on how well it fit the criteria. 

ACC science fair results:

1st Place

• Owen Berger
• Sarai Camey Gomez
• Vincent Culbertson
• Lan-Madeleine Do
• Jameson Gravelle
• Ari Guttridge 
• James Karlton
• Devin Ostrowski
• Morgan Sexton
• Charlotte Slapar
• Marek Sundqvist
• Philip Verghese
• Charlotte Waggy

2nd Place

• Eleanor DeCarmine
• Yordanos Delle
• Daniel Gottshall
• Joshua Gurara
• Jhojara Guzman
• Amara Halfacre
• Daisuke Hatakeyama
• Paul Heredia
• Nina Jaeckel
• Mavi Juarez
• Ashton Marshall
• James McFaralne
• Vivian McGinn
• Sofia Netto
• Henry Odar
• Kaylee Rojas-Duran
• Jackson Shartzer
• Benjamin Slatt
• Alexander Talaber
• Tai-Yu Wang
• Isaac Weathers
• Casey Wright
• Clara Zelle James
• Darin Bell
• Joshua Brannon
• Erin Chen
• Winston Greenwood
• Caden Kaufman
• Micha Morton

Honourable Mention

• Dante Barrios Klingle
• Leo Brito
• Alice Cheng
• Liam Crabb
• James Jones
• Alexander Korns
• Lilac Grace Kresse
• Griffin Lambo
• Caleb Malovany
• Nina Schuler
• Krishan Sharma
• Thomas Walsh

The second round of the science fair took place on March 1, at Wakefield High School. After having been through this already, students felt more confident. Student, Charlotte Waggy, said “It was a really helpful experience because I learned a lot of important life skills, such as being interviewed and talking to people about a project I spent a long time on”. Her dedication to her project certainly paid off, as she was among the students who got second place. A total of 14 students from Arlington Tech placed in the Regional’s with one of them being able to continue to the state level. This student, Marek Sundqvist, placed 1st in the Animal Science category, and was given the opportunity to continue to the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair (VSSEF) at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

List of students from Arlington Tech who placed in regionals:

1st Place

• Marek Sundqvist 
• Daniel Gottshall

2nd Place

• Charlotte Waggy
• Sarai Camey Gomez
• James Karlton

3rd Place

• Owen Berger

Honourable Mention

• Morgan Sexton
• Vincent Culbertson
• Jameson Gravelle
• Paul Heredia
• Charlotte Slapar
• Devin Ostrowski
• Lan-Madeleine Do
• Ari Guttridge

All of the students, no matter what they placed, all put their time and effort into making their science project. They all learned something new, whether it be about their actual project or about writing, statistics, presenting. The science fair was a learning experience and helped students to grow out of their shells.