Nearly 100 projects were entered by students in the Central Regional Science Fair for the Nebraska Junior Academy of Sciences on Wednesday, April 2. The fair, which was moved to April due to poor weather in March, was hosted by Hastings College and held at the Morrison-Reeves Science Center on campus.
Schools that participated in this year’s Central Regional Science Fair included Adams Central Junior/Senior High School, Central City Public Schools, Sandhills Public Schools and Silver Lake High School.
The science fair is split into two divisions. The Junior Division is open to students in 6th through 8th grade, while the Senior Division is open to those in grades 9 through 12.
Out of the nearly 100 projects entered, eight from each division were selected to move onto the State Science Fair competition. The 2025 Central Regional State Qualifiers are listed below.
Junior Division
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The 2025 junior state qualifiers. Mazie Boyd, Silver Lake Public Schools, with “Constructing a Bird Feeder that Repels Squirrels”
- Cesar Chavez, Sandhills Public Schools, with “Ice Away”
- Macie Dexter, Central City Public Schools, with “A Comparison of Load Weight on Bridge Flexion”
- Holt Jensen, Sandhills Public Schools, with “Why Does Aflatoxin B1 Kill Horses”
- Sam Johnson, Central City Public Schools, with “An Analysis of Foot Stance on Golf Club Direction and Tilt”
- Josie Morrow, Sandhills Public Schools, with “Stains and Suds”
- Isaac Rowe, Central City Public Schools with, “The Effect of Sealant Type on Liquid Seepage”
- Harper Zutavern, Sandhills Public Schools, with “The Growth of Bacteria on Cheese”
Senior Division
Madison Chrisman, Central City Public Schools, with “The Effect of Birth Weight, Litter Size, Dam Age, and Sex on the Amount of Antibodies Acquired in Katahdin Dorper Lambs”- Riese Eckhardt and Isabelle Weston, Adams Central Public Schools, with “Using Caenorhabditis Elegans as a Possible Model for Humans in Alzheimer’s Disease”
- Berkley Jacobitz and Peyton Hartman, Adams Central Public Schools, with “Exploring the Impact of Diet on Seizure Susceptibility in Drosophila melanogaster with Mutant Shaker Potassium Channels and Altered Membrane Excitability”
- Kaelyn Kelly, Central City Public Schools, with “The Ability of Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Frass to Inhibit Bacterial Growth”
- Caleb Rowe, Central City Public Schools, with “A Comparison of the Effects of H2 Incorporation on the Stability and Opto-electronic Properties of ZnO and Mg:ZnO Thin Films”
- Dakota Sage, Central City Public Schools, with “Utilizing Mycofiltration of 3 Mushroom Species to Determine the Most Effective Mitigation of Clothianidin Contamination in Water”
- Deegan St. John, Adams Central Public Schools, with “The efficiency of crypto mining on a Raspberry Pi 5”
Olivia Wymer, Central City Public Schools, with “The Effect of Sodium Nitrate on the Fitness of Caenorhabditis elegans: Phase Two” - Olivia Wymer, Central City Public Schools, with “The Effect of Sodium Nitrate on the Fitness of Caenorhabditis elegans: Phase Two”
Madison Chrisman, Central City Public Schools, with “The Effect of Birth Weight, Litter Size, Dam Age, and Sex on the Amount of Antibodies Acquired in Katahdin Dorper Lambs”Hastings College is a four-year residential college that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Discover more at hastings.edu.
