WALDOBORO — Medomak Valley High School held a science fair at the school in preparation to competing at the Maine State Science Fair, which was held Saturday, March 23, at The University of Maine.

The "practice" round was expected to better prepare students to compete at MSSF. Several of the participating underclassmen produced competitive projects that MVHS anticipated would receive some recognition at the state level. They were correct.

Maine State Science Fair

Twenty-six Medomak Valley High School students participated in the Maine State Science Fair, which was shifted at the last minute to a virtual setting with a single 10-15 minute Zoom interview with their judges. For the second year in a row, five MVHS students placed in their categories as they competed amongst approximately 250 students from 24 schools across the state. Approximately 40 category winners were awarded to the top 3 in each category. 

Sam Parent was awarded 1st place in the Computer Science Category for his project on using drone and neural networks to detect crop disease 

Ace Moberly was awarded 2nd place in the Plant Science (agriculture) category for their project on using eel wastewater as a fertilizer treatment

Lyra Puchalski was awarded 3rd for her Animal Science project looking at the impact of CO2 on ciliary function of Blue Mussels

Anna Weber and Micaela Lorentzen were awarded 3rd place in the Plant Science Category for their project on reducing eutrophication via arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi 

David Creamer placed 3rd in Biological Sciences and Engineering for his project on the impact of blue light on fruit flies. 

Elisah Stanton was given the Reach award, which is given to promising first year students. 

Anna Possee was offered a scholarship to UNE of up to $20,000 

Jack Martin was offered a full tuition, renewable scholarship (worth nearly $40,000) to the University of Southern Maine

Medomak Valley High School Science Fair

This is the third year of hosting this MVHS-based science fair and it continues to grow in attendance and participation.

Twenty-five projects from students were presented. Judges consisted of current and former teachers, former students, school board members, and employees from businesses including Ocean Organics, American Ugani, Boothbay Science by the Sea, and the Maine Sea Grant. 

“The ultimate goal is to inspire these students to become lifelong scientists hoping to ask and answer questions,” said MVHS, in a news release.

In addition, they have learned how to manage their time for an independent project, read background information to determine why and how this project is significant, and be able to communicate to a small audience. A bonus will be inspiration to follow a STEM based career path. 

The following were selected as MVHS school winners:

1st Place: Anna Weber and Micaela Lorentzen ($100): Testing Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi's Ability to Reduce Eutrophication When Colonizing Zea
 
2nd Place: Lyra Puchalski ($75): The Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Ciliary Activity of Mytilus edulis
 
3rd Place: Devan Rainey ($50): The Effectiveness of Dog Friendly Tick Repellants
 
Honorable Mention ($25 each):

Jack Martin: Can Mytilus edulis (Blue Mussels) be used as Biological Indicators of Pollution? 

Mason Nguyen: Do Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Increase Pathogen Resistance and Crop Yield? 

Cole Bales: The Effects of Caffeine on the Longevity of C. elegans