First JC science fair planned for students for spring 2020

Alex Hau, Media Chief

For students interested in science experiments, JC is going to be hosting a science fair for the first time.

The fair itself will be held on April 20, but proposals for experiments are due to science fair moderators Dr. Anthony Davidson and  Mr. Mark Grzanna at the beginning of November.

There have been workshops for interested students hosted by Dr. Davidson. He is excited about introducing the science fair to the JC community.

“We’re currently working out the kinks, but I hope that we can get the underclassmen interested” Dr. Davidson said.

He hopes that they can continue this in the following years, and that the JC science fair will become an annual tradition.

The process of the science fair is starting now because Dr. Davidson and Mr. Grzanna want to make sure that students have time to perfect their projects and do plenty of research.

“The students should have the whole year to work on their projects,” Dr. Davidson said.

The fair itself will be solely for the JC community. However, this will not be a simple science fair, but it will involve thorough research and exceptional analysis.

An interesting concept of the JC science fair is that the science department will fund some students’ proposals.

The contest has no monetary prizes at this time, but it will have the standard ribbon award system.

The judges will be external from JC, taking advantage of local business owners who are related to students’ projects.

Senior James Zigler is studying how athletics affect academics. James and his group will have to formulate their proposal. Next they will have to conduct research by surveying the student community and interviewing different students. Finally, his group will have to present their experiment and hope for the first place ribbon.

“Our hypothesis is that athletics actually cause students to have better grades,” James said.

Introducing new traditions to JC is important in expanding student involvement of non-athletes.

Students interested in science will now have an outlet other than classes and the STEAM program.

The JC science fair looks promising, and the teachers moderating it are excited to see how it takes off. The fair will allow everyone to be winners in the pursuit of science exploration and experimentation.

If a student is interested in participating in the fair, he/she should see Dr. Davidson or Mr. Grzanna.