Diocesan Science Fair returns to in-person format

IC photo/Linda Petersen

+ Enlarge

Students at the Diocesan Science Fair, held Feb. 5 at Juan Diego Catholic High School, impressed the judges with the wide range of subjects of their experiments.

DRAPER — From producing the perfect cookie to an attempt to synthesize a rare coral that fights cancer, young scientists at the Diocesan Science Fair Feb. 5 at Juan Diego Catholic High School inspired judges with their knowledge and understanding.

“I’m really impressed with the level of the questions they were addressing. It’s just light years ahead of anything I was doing when I was in high school,” said Richard Green, a longtime science fair judge who holds a PhD in biology.

Green judged the high school entries. “This year I was really impressed generally with the level of understanding. Having access to fancy equipment is one thing, but really understanding the question that you’re trying to answer and how to use the equipment to answer that question is another.”

Sumer Thurston-Evans, who holds degrees in physics and mathematics, judged sixth- and seventh-grade entries.

“I am loving how these kids, even though they may not be tackling very difficult scientific questions, they are approaching them in a deliberate and scientific way using the scientific method,” she said. “They are coming to conclusions; they are generating more ideas and more areas they want to research.”

The fair is open to students in grades six through 12. The number of entries this year was down just slightly over 2019, the last year the fair was held in person, said science fair committee chairperson Dr. Christine Celestino.

“I’m very impressed,” she said. “We have some students that have done science that is way above their grade level, especially considering that we’ve had two years where we’ve really had a hard time with education because of the pandemic and having interruptions to schooling. I was really expecting to see that students’ level would be lower, but it definitely is not.”

Due to the pandemic, the awards ceremony was held virtually. This year’s top winner was Chase Kramer of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, who was named Young Scientist of the Year. Chase, who took the Overall Sixth Grade Award and the Overall Earth and Environmental Science Award, also won Young Scientist of the Year last year as a student at St. Olaf Catholic School.

T-shirts and awards were delivered to the schools this week. Finalists from the Diocesan Science Fair will go on to compete at the University of Utah Science and Engineering Fair March 9 and 10 at the Tower at Rice Eccles Stadium.  

The Diocesan Science Fair is sponsored by the Utah Knights of Columbus.