Regional Science Fair!
- navakallc
- Apr 20
- 3 min read
Competing in a science fair is an experience of its own. I recently participated in a science fair called CSRSEF, which stands for the central sound regional science and engineering fair. It’s a regional fair that takes place in the western side of Washington each year before moving up to the state fair. It consists of coming up with a novel idea or an extension of past research to bring something new to the table in the science world. There are many different categories that you can compete in, 22 to be exact. I participated in the earth and environmental science category.
My project was about identifying the impact of fishing fleets on coral reefs worldwide. The journey started all the way back in the summer. We first had to draft our final project and keep track of all our progress in a logbook. This was to ensure that we were all completing our work ourselves without external resources. For science projects such as these, we are also required to have a mentor, as a guidance for us as we work through our project. For some projects it’s vital because of the lab work that it entails. My project was computational, which means that I did it through coding and access of databases.
It took me about 7 months to complete, with various progress checks from my teacher at school throughout the year. We had to create a research plan which articulated our entire project and submit it for approval. On their website, there were multiple checkpoints that allowed us to submit and get approved by various things before the final deadline for the fair. This included forms, research plan and a survey to be completed. Once all the procedural stuff was done, we moved on to creating our trifolds. Trifolds is a three side panel which you prop up on the table and has distinct information on each panel. It contained the summary of my entire project, starting from introduction to the conclusion of my results.
Along with the trifold, we also needed to have prepared a 10 minute speech that summarized our project to the judges. That took a while to prepare, and we were given time in school to practice with peers as well. On the final day, all of us went into that room wearing formal and carrying our trifolds. We had about 4 sets of judges in the span of three hours, talking continuously straining our voices. Lunch was finally bliss, with all of us clamoring and excitedly chattering about our experience with the judges. Then there was the open viewing ceremony, where all of my friends and I would wander to each other’s trifolds and talk. It was a great day, from us being there from 7am to 7pm.
Finally, it was time for the awards ceremony. They were going through the special category judges first, and then the category. Special category is when organizations from all over the country take interest in your project, and award you with their organization’s award. One of the first organizations was the excellence in geoscience, which is what my project was about. The thrill of hearing my name being called up was unreal, with cheering and clapping being a clamor in the background. Everything faded away as I walked up on stage, proudly taking the certificate and beaming to my parents in the audience. It was a great way to end the day, and an experience of a lifetime.
