First Annual JRGS Science Fair

March 2003

The Jackson River Governor's School held their first science fair on Tuesday, February 25, 2003, at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College. Governor's School juniors all prepared and carried out a science or engineering research project, either as an individual or as a team of two or three.

Eleven projects were submitted in the categories of Botany, Earth and Space Science, Engineering, Medicine and Health, Microbiology, and Physics. Students from Alleghany High School, Bath County High School, Covington High School, and Parry McCluer High School participated.

Judges for the event were DSLCC faculty members Dr. H. S. Adams and Mr. Charles Bartocci.

The top three projects went on to competition in the Roanoke Valley Regional Science Fair on Saturday, March 22, at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. The winning projects were "Venus Flytraps and Different Types of Food", "Weight Loss in Sports", and "What are the Influences of Antibiotics on Bacteria?"

Two alternates were also chosen: "Do Your Sunglasses Really Protect Your Eyes from UV Light?" and "Which Method of Cleaning Your Hands is Really the Best?"

At the Roanoke Valley Science Fair, the Venus Flytraps and Antibiotics projects received honorable mention awards.

The Governor's School intends to make the science fair an annual event and extend the opportunity to participate to area high school students whose school does not have a qualifying science fair.