By Danielle Smith

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With a month of investigating and analyzing behind them, students presented their projects in the annual MHS science fair on Jan. 21. With over 80 projects entered, 25 were then selected by judges based off performance and quality of investigations and will move onto the Central Oahu District Science and Engineering Fair (CODSEF).

“We’ve learned quite a bit from this. We know now how much it takes to design an experiment and make a board and how to organize your data and we know now what we can do better the next time around,” said Sophomore Alyssa Arment, whose project focused on using milk as an alternative source of plastic.

The fair is hosted in part to give students a chance to continue their passion in certain fields and to further their investigations in science. “The whole science fair is about encouraging students to further their scientific investigation independently. So basically they can pursue their passion because you know some kids are interested in environment and in physics and they just pick a topic and they have to pursue the investigation step by step,” said Chemistry teacher and science fair organizer Namthip Sitachitta. 

Since most of the work was done independently from regular class time, some students struggled to balance school life and other activities in order to conduct their experiments. “We had a lot of school work and we had to be able to balance when we could meet up and juggle our parents’ schedule and not only our own so that we could meet up and make sure that it would get done,” Arment said.

Those who moved on in the top 25 felt that the advancement was an honor in return for all the work put in. Arment said, “It’s really interesting to know that all of our hard work has paid off and our project really was good enough and interesting enough to advance not once, but two times.”

Even for those who didn’t advance, students still gained a valuable experience. “It was an interesting experience because I’ve never done the science fair before and I’ve never actually made a display board that would go into a competition,” Sophmore Mika Domingo said. “When I thought about science fair I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t think I’d be able to make my own project, but it turned out a lot simpler than I thought it would be.”

Many students participated in hopes that they would be able to learn and grow from their experiences not only in science, but in other aspects of their life as well. “I think they learned the whole process of science investigation and they were able to pursue their passion in the science field,” Sitachitta said. Arment added, “I learned a lot already, not only from my project but other skills such as time management and learning how to work with somebody and learning not how to balance not only your time, but others as well.”

Students have already begun improving their project boards and preparing presentations to prepare for CODSEF, which will be held on Feb. 13 in Moanalua, where 25 more students will be selected from schools across the island to move on to the state competition.