[hr]Winners from this spring’s Jackson State University’s Region II Science Fair Mississippi Science and Engineering Fair are competing this week in the international contest in Phoenix (May 12-18).
Kristy Love, undergraduate program coordinator and regional director for the Mississippi Science and Engineering Fair, spearheads the regional event through JSU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology. She is attending the event in the Grand Canyon state and is hopeful that her region fares well.
Love said she also wants more participation and involvement from local teachers, college instructors, students and faculty from all academic disciplines, as well as from the entire community.
“We’d love for everyone to get involved in the science fairs,” Love said. “If more individuals realize how impactful these projects are for the community and get further involved, the fair itself would become bigger.”
The annual regional event is held during spring inside the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.
Reportedly, more than 1,200 students participate in the seven regional fairs that represent their schools and their communities. However, only Grades 7-12 are eligible to progress to the state-level competition, which was held this year at Northeast Community College in Booneville, Mississippi.
These are the four students representing Region II at the international contest in Phoenix, and each could potentially earn major scholarships:
- Daniel Joshua, a senior at Madison Central High School. He won Best of Fair at the state fair.
- Vivian Pryor, a senior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School. She won alternate best of fair at state.
- George Monore, a junior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School
- Forrest Hutchison, a sophomore at St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School
JSU has served more than 40 years as host for Region II, which covers six counties: Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Madison, Rankin and Warren. Participants include Grades 1-12, with competition on two levels: Upper Fair (Grades 7-12) and Lower Fair (Grades 1-6). The urban HBCU organizes the event by coordinating with about 50 participating area schools.
Furthermore, Love said, there is another advantage from hosting the fair on campus.
“Some of the older participants could become JSU students one day, so we need to engage them now at this level. This would be a great recruiting event. I’m hoping more people at the university will see what these young people are doing. Also, we could use more judges from the community and various campus areas.”
For more information, visit Mississippi Science and Engineering Fair Region II.
