Qulin Middle School students proved to be the cream of the crop at this year’s 67th Annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair.
The event was held Tuesday at the Show Me Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
With 30 students participating, Qulin captured multiple first and third place wins, said Qulin Junior High science instructor Scott Kirkman. A total of 243 students from 13 area schools submitted 150 projects for judging and public viewing.
“I was very happy with my kids and their performance with the projects. They worked very hard. There’s a lot of time and a lot of effort that goes into them,” said Kirkman.
There were a total of 98 projects in the junior division, 15 of which were from Kirkman’s Qulin Junior High science class.
His students competed in six of the eight different available categories. Their projects were mostly related to behavioral and social science.
Students Makenzie Lowe and Emery Stratton received first place in the Behavioral and Social Science category.
“They did a project where they were testing different types of distractions in the classroom and how it affected students’ performance on things like tests or quizzes. They did one where they would try clicking or tapping their foot,” said Kirkman.
The students, according to Kirkman, tested and monitored 10 of their peers after getting parental consent.
“They tested on different types of distractions and then collected the data, and of course, their data showed that the distractions did impact the students’ performance,” said Kirkman.
Lowe and Stratton also took home Best Overall Group and the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge Award, which qualifies students for the opportunity to complete an online application for the 2023 Thermo Fisher JIC national competition.
Students Ben Jackson, Trenton Goodnight and Lane Bates placed third in the Plant and Animal Science category. Lilly Oliver, Kylie Green, Aaliyah Holsopple and Adrienne Burke placed third in Biomedical and Health Science. Ace Janes and Logan Butler placed third in Physics and Chemistry, and Max Johnson placed third in Earth and Environmental Science with a project on drought control.
“He was looking at drought prevention methods for his dad, who is a landscaper. So he was looking at ways of trying to prevent grass from drying out during long periods of drought,” said Kirkman.
According to Kirkman, students have been diligently working on the project entries since September.