Last Friday, Feb. 3 students in Principles of Energy Science presented their final science projects to a panel of judges. Judges included various teacher volunteers as well as some of the school’s energy academy partners. This included representatives from WesternMidstream, United Power, and Jack’s Solar Garden.

All participants (which was over 40 students this year) presented projects related to energy or sustainability. However, Ms. Shannon Krack, who teaches the class, hopes to extend the science fair to all students in the future and increase participation.

Students were required to come up with a hypothesis, procedure, and conclusion. All participants also included various graphs and data points in their projects. Some focused on water and runoff, studying various factors like pH and water quality. Others looked into other areas of energy and sustainability, such as soil quality or renewable energy sources. 

Overall, judges were looking at the scientific process — a well formed hypothesis, completed and cited research, overall visual representation of data, and reflection on the process. Presentation and public speaking were also taken into account. 

According to participant Tessa Avery (‘23), preparations for the science fair began back in October.

“There was a lot of energy and time put into this whole project,” said Avery (’23).