Several area students returned from the 62nd Annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair in Cape Girardeau, Mo., as project winners.
The work of 654 students from 36 area junior high and high schools were displayed last month in the Show Me Center at Southeast Missouri State University, totally 380 projects in the junior division.
Ten junior high students from Neelyville R-IV brought home two first place, two second place and one third place awards.
Hunter Robinson and Ryley Cage Armes won first place in chemistry as well as best overall experiment with their "Mr. Freeze" project.
First place in health and medicine was awarded to "Blowing Smoke" by James Buffington and Preston Goodnight.
Samantha Frye and February Pulley won second place in chemistry with "How Does Coke Affect Food" as well as Lexus Hagood and Morgan Day.
Third place in botany was awarded to Ryan Moore and JD Burton with their "Does Crap Matter" experiment.
"All the students that participated in the science fair did absolutely wonderful, but the groups that won went a little further with their effort," Neelyville science teacher Brooks Dunkin said. "They were always asking questions and constantly working on their projects making sure that every detail was in order. I am very proud of the effort they put in and hopefully they will see that hard work pays off and continue with the science fair in the future, for the fact of the doors it can open at the college level."
The students had very little class time to work on their projects, Dunkin added.
"I would just offer guidance if they got stuck along the way," he said.
Twin Rivers R-X was also well represented at the science fair by junior high students from Fisk and Qulin.
Fisk fifth and sixth grade science teacher Landon Ham stepped in to oversee the junior high students who competed at the science fair while junior high science teacher Jessica Payne is out for an indefinite time due to breast cancer.
"Our students are very hard working kids who push and apply themselves despite very difficult circumstances that many of them have to overcome," Ham said. "We as a school are very proud of all of them."
Second place chemistry winners included Olivia Goodrich and Clara Honeycutt. Charolette Royse, Ryan Tompkins and Hannah Wright won third place chemistry. McKenzie Tanner won third place is zoology and Jake Guess placed third in environmental science.
Jacob Chronister was recognized by the United States Metric Association for his work.
Ham praised the student's hard work and successes considering their teacher had been out.
"I am extremely proud of the good behavior and responsibility they (the students) have demonstrated during this difficult time," Ham said. "They have rallied together to help raise money and community support for their science teacher during her time of need and during a very busy time for them with science fair and sports."
Several Qulin Middle School students also received awards during the largest science fair to date at SEMO.
"The competition was greater this year at the fair than any other year," Qulin science teacher Scott Kirkman said. "The students that placed this year had to know their project and be able to communicate their results in an effective way to be successful."
Claiming third place awards were Jasmine Byrd, Emily Herren and Raelyn Lorah in behavioral social science; Karson Ham, Gavin Cagle and Hayden Shelton in engineering as well as an Ameren Award; Sidney Bates and Austin Loyd in medicine and health; and Glendon Siebert and Wyatt Ledbetter in microbiology.
Second place awards were presented to Hannah Patterson in behavioral and social science; Kaydence Bequette, Charly Johnson and Rachel Rommel in botany; Emma Thurman and Taylor Watson in microbiology; and Broadcom Masters' nominees Montana Littrell, Suzanna Ogelvie and Brianna Tompkins in math and computer science.
Alexis Wilson, Sarah Tanksley and Kalea LeGrand were awarded with first place in math and computer science as well as top overall physical science experiment and were Broadcom Masters' nominees.
Brooke Shouse and Olivia Drew also won first place in zoology as well as top overall life science project and were nominated as Broadcom Masters.
Kirkman said he believed all the student projects he took to the science fair were good, quality projects that could compete with others.
"The students that participated in the fair this year deserved the experience for all their hard work," he said.