Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair held at Show Me Center

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - The Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair brought in students from all over the area on Tuesday, March 7.

6th to 12th grade students from 15 schools brought in science fair projects to be judged.

“STEM is a huge, growing field and we want to encourage more students to go into it. Our world is changing every day and the more we encourage students to go into STEM fields, the more our world changes and our advancements increase,” Chelsea Grigery, physician at Southeast Health pediatrics and director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair, said.

We talked to some of these students about their projects.

“I love forensic science and I love, like, CSI and Criminal Minds and stuff like that,” Julianna Noble, Portageville High School junior, said. “...it’s just kind of a fun project to do.”

Another student we talked with wants to improve the environment.

“Well, I have to say that every time I pass near a river, I see it being, well, polluted, dirty brown, and I want to change something to where I can actually look at that river and be proud that that river exists without any pollutants in it,” Kaden Luker, Jackson High School senior, said; “and I will say that I am very wary of the water I drink because I don’t wanna consume any micro plastics, especially after I did my research. So it’s mainly just to improve the water, the environment, itself.”

The fair will give out several hundred dollars worth of awards on Monday, March 7, as well as a $4,000 scholarship to Southeast Missouri State University.

“We love to have students come participate in this every year and, again, we’re trying to recover from COVID, we’re still growing from that experience. The more students, the merrier, so if you’re interested in participating feel free to contact us here at the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair,” Grigery added.

You can follow them on Facebook or email them at regscifair@semo.edu.

Organizers say three projects from the senior category will advance on to the international science fair in Dallas, Texas in May. The week-long trip is all-expenses paid.

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