Stories from the Field: 11th Annual West Hawaiʻi Science & Engineering Fair at Pālamanui
STEM education fosters innovative young thinkers with strong research and problem-solving skills. But we also hope that STEM education helps youth see future career paths or personal interests, so we encourage them to take opportunities to explore the possibilities while learning.
Science fairs provide a fun, if somewhat stressful, environment for students to showcase their discoveries and practice important presentation skills. Presenting projects to their community empowers young minds to address real-world challenges while making what could be life-changing connections.
View of the outdoor gathering area and welcome banner.
We had so much fun spending a Saturday at the Hawaiʻi Community College - Pālamanui campus amongst enthusiastic students, teachers, and volunteers for the 11th Annual West Hawaiʻi Science & Engineering Fair. This regional event squeezed scores of varied presentations from public and private school students into an intense day. While the main competition to advance to the next level was for high school students, middle schoolers also competed, and students from Honokaʻa Elementary got to present, as well. Despite the event acting as a qualifying stage for higher level competitions, the air was full of camaraderie and excitement. Students, teachers, and families were full of support and celebration as students completed their presentations and got to socialize over food and cheer for one another at the award ceremony.
Categories and grades:
No photos were allowed during the event, but this walkway was the staging area where students waited their turns to present in the different classrooms.
The main competition was for high school students in Science and Engineering categories, plus an Advanced category. Within these divisions, competitors were roughly grouped by subject area for their judging panel assignments. For example, I helped to judge an assortment of psychology, sociology, and natural science research projects.
Students researched, designed, conducted, and analyzed the results from their own scientific experiments or engineering projects. For the competition, they prepared ~10-minute presentations along with posters or slideshows as visual aids. The judges in my group were impressed with how quickly students were able to communicate their projects, and how articulately they answered questions. We also hope that our written feedback, which was given to teachers to pass on to their students, can help them progress as future researchers.
Although we do not expect every single participant to pursue science and engineering careers, we still believe this was a valuable project-based learning experience that built critical thinking, problem-solving, ethical research, data analysis, and other key 21st-century skills. Whatever the students choose to do, we as adults are responsible to provide these kinds of opportunities for youth to explore their own interests and even address relevant local and broader societal issues. Even students whose experiments did not go to plan seemed excited to share about what they learned, and we appreciated their enthusiasm and creative ideas.
Results
Complex Area Superintendent Janette Snelling & complex area staff presenting awards.
There were many, many winners, including a top 4 from each group — the top 3 go to states, with 4th place as an alternate — and overall category winners that presented a second time to the final judging panel.
The state level competition happens at the end of March going into early April, and the international competition is in May. Maybe some of the students awarded at this event in West Hawaiʻi will make it all the way, but there are still so many wonderful networking and scholarship opportunities available at every level of competition, that everyone should be excited to be a part of it.
In addition to competitive placement awards, there were additional unranked awards that we bestowed on behalf of scientific organizations. For example, our group selected USAID, American Psychological Association, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Metric Association, and Yale Science & Engineering Association awards, each with their own criteria for judges to follow in choosing the awardees. Such commendations sometimes come with perks beyond a bulletpoint for their CVs. For example, the US Metric Association award came with a membership, and the Yale award came with an invitation to visit the campus for a special reception.
View from behind the back row of the award ceremony.
Mahalo to:
This event involved a lot of helping hands as volunteers, organizers, and sponsors. The list of helpers includes Hawaiʻi Academy of Science, NOAA, Regeneron, Canada France Hawaiʻi Telescope, HIDOE - West Hawaiʻi Complex Area, Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy, Hawaiʻi Community College - Pālamanui, Kealakehe Robotics, and Kealakehe STEM Academy.
We are also grateful to the students’ teachers, schools, and families for supporting them in completing their projects and preparing for the event. Providing school buses as transportation for students allowed for easier logistics and made it easier for students with busy families to be able to come and participate with a smaller travel barrier. And many family members took the time to drive themselves to Pālamanui to celebrate at the award ceremony, after presentations were finished.
View of the voggy horizon behind Pālamanui’s native plant landscaping.
The host: Pālamanui
The Pālamanui campus was bright, breezy, and welcoming. We hope that some students and their families felt inspired by their visit enough that they could see themselves taking courses there, during or after high school.
Folks interested in the local community college opportunities here on Hawaiʻi Island should check out the Promise Scholarship and the Elama & Hilo One scholarship. Both can cover a free year at Pālamanui! There are more resources available for folks considering taking HCC or other UH system courses, as well.
STEM resources to enjoy in your classroom or free time
There are plenty of STEM programs and other educational and exploratory materials available all over the internet, schools, and extracurricular options. We recommend checking out the DOE’s listings, and links to STEM teaching resources.
