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Inquisitive Minds Take Charge at Regional Science Fair

WEST LIBERTY — At Campbell Hall on West Liberty University’s campus, area middle and high school students stood ready in conference rooms kept company with tri-fold display boards and their thoughts of presenting to complete strangers.

Saturday marked the 58th annual West Liberty Regional Science and Engineering Fair, an event sponsored by Southwestern Energy Co. Young minds competed for a trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, where one student will compete and another will observe.

Kendrick Dobbs, a student at John Marshall High School, secured the senior division grand prize, while Isaac Woods, a student of Moundsville Middle School, took home the junior grand prize. Both will attend the international fair in May.

Woods voluntarily committed himself to a three-year project on testing the various ways silver may decontaminate water, and he said the challenges facing populations in underdeveloped countries pushed him to tackle this topic.

Woods said science is his favorite subject in school because “there’s new stuff every day.”

Ellie Reasbeck, a student from the St. Vincent de Paul School, said her project, a study of how food preservatives prevent mold growth, sprung when her mother found six-week old English muffins in the kitchen cabinet intact.

She found different preservatives have different effects, and though they prevent decay, Reasbeck said these additives cause her concern. She believes some preservatives may harm people, and she said the same preservatives found in the English muffins are found in shoe rubber.

“It is important to encourage youngsters to realize the value of scientific investigation and to learn to think and explore their own ideas,” Zac Loughman, an associate professor of biology, zoology and ecology at WLU, said. “I’m a product of this fair. It was my Super Bowl. Because of that experience, I understand the importance of this from a deep, fundamental level.”

Loughman co-organized the fair with Theunis Van Aardt, an assistant professor of chemistry. He said this is the first year the event saw more than 100 projects presented, which he finds exciting. Loughman said students are seizing an opportunity to explore their thoughts and the world around them.

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