Of the many participants in the 2012 SHS Science Fair, 17 have received superior ratings and projects will be proceeding to the University of Cincinnati Science and Engineering Expo (UC SEE), which will take place on March 10.

“It was a really fun experience to be able to do independent research, and the Science Fair gave me a reason to follow through with it,” said Olivia Smith, 11.

She, along with Hayley Huge, 10, and Alexis Corcoran, 10, will be going to the UC SEE with their project, Time to Eat: A Cross Cultural Comparison of Meal Duration.

This will be the first level at which participants are able to earn awards, either as cash prizes or as scholarships, and if they earn a superior rating, they can advance to the state level, the Ohio State University State Science day.

“Last year I went to UC, but I didn’t make it to state. I hope I can do better this year,” said Rajat Bagheria, 10, who is going to UC with his project, Nitrates and Phosphates.

In the previous year, four projects advanced to state, and each won at least one award, and many more projects won awards at the UC SEE.

In addition to the 17 superior projects, four projects from the BioTech classes at SHS will also be going to the UC SEE. These students, too, will be aiming for awards and superior ratings.

At the UC SEE, four projects also have the chance of going straight to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

However, UC needs funds to be able to send the projects to Pittsburgh, PA, where it will take place; last year, no projects from the UC district were able to go to ISEF.

“We need your support in order to get our students competing at the 2012 ISEF event!” said Tom Cruse, UC SEE Director, in an ISEF announcement from UC.

Hopefully, this year they will be able to garner enough funding to send students to the international fair, and with any luck SHS students will be able to do as well as or better than they have in previous years.