Hastings College hosted the Central Regional Science Fair for the Nebraska Junior Academy of Sciences (NJAS) on March 12 in the Morrison-Reeves Science Center. The fair drew 154 students from across central Nebraska.
The science fair is split into two divisions. The Junior Division is open to students in sixth through eighth grades, while the Senior Division is open to those in grades nine through 12. This year, there were 68 junior projects and 64 senior projects, with six projects from each division being selected to move onto the state science fair competition.
The top Senior Division projects from the state competition will qualify for the National Science Fair.
The 2019 Central Regional State Qualifiers include:
Junior Division
- Jackson Graves of Hastings Middle School: “The Sinking Experiment.”
- Jenna Cecrle of Adams Central: “Does Prednisone Cause a Decrease in the Body Length Through Generations of Drosophila Melanogaster?”
- Rehgan Miller of Silver Lake Public Schools: “The Effects Of Various Background Noise’s On Recall Ability.”
- Madison Karr of Silver Lake Public Schools: “The Effects of Soil Types on Green Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris) Growth.”
- Elaina McHargue of Central City Public Schools: “The Effects of Barley Straw Extract and Copper Sulfate on Algal Growth.”
- Samantha Bonifas of Silver Lake Public Schools: “Evaluating the Effects of Continuous Glucose Monitors on A1C Values on Diabetes Patients.”
Senior Division
- Gabrielle Moser of Central City Public Schools: “A Field Study to Determine the Presence of Caenorhabditis Nematodes in Central Nebraska”
- Jade Erickson of Central City Public Schools: “Influences of Intensive Agriculture on Central Nebraska Climate”
- Tyler Slechta and Tristan Weston of Adams Central High School: “The Effect of Margaritifera Margaritifera on Nitrates”
- Mackinzi Hill and Jaden Nienhueser of Adams Central High School: “The Effects of Pharmaceutical Waste on the Heart Rate of Daphnia magna”
- Savannah Harper and Bryn Lang of Adams Central High School: “Staphylococcus and Fecal Coliforms on Shopping Cart Handles”
- Jonathan Borgman of Silver Lake Public Schools: “Engineering an Automatic Fish Feeder”
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. With 64 majors and 15 pre-professional programs, Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
