Medea students to compete in state fair
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

GOING TO STATE- Leah Gunn displays her winning science project, an analysis of children's fears regarding online predators. Gunn qualifies for the state competition on May 19 and 20.

Eight Medea Creek Middle School students have earned recognition at the 2008 Ventura County Science Fair. Five of them will go on to compete at the state level May 19 and 20.

"In the history of MCMS, this is the first year we will be represented by five of our students at this year's state Science Fair. This is outstanding," said Cindy Ligeti, a Medea Creek science teacher. "We are proud of each and every one for (their) hard work and efforts."

The first-place winners include Cole Berweiler in the plant science category, Vivian Rotenstein in physics and astronomy, and Aaron Schroeder in energy and transportation.

In second place were Leah Gunn in behavioral and social sciences, and Adam Kaplan in engineering materials and bioengineering. These five students will continue to the state competition.

Other winners include Vanessa Lopez in fourth place in the category of Amgen: biochemistry. Vanessa is an alternate for the state competition.

In addition, three students earned special commendations for their projects. Amy Schwartz earned a $100 cash award from the Audubon Society for her environmental sciences project. Adam won an NACE International Award for his engineering-related project, and Amos Too received a $100 cash award for his engineering material and bioengineering project from American Petroleum.

For Leah, just being around others who love science, and seeing their experiments was exciting. Her project involved examining the level of fear that children from age 11 to 14 have related to online predators, child abductions and school shootings. Kids are presented with statistics concerning the likelihood of such events, both before and after they occur.

"I chose to do this project because I wanted to know if our society should be as fearful as we are. I was hoping to alleviate kids' fears . . ." Leah said.

Her experiment indicated a significant reduction in fear once the respondents were presented with the statistical unlikelihood of a scary event occurring. She determined that kids are being unnecessarily scared by the way information about these events is being presented to them, making them feel paranoia and isolation from people they don't know. Such emotions ultimately lead to health issues, less productivity and uneasiness about the world.

Nearly 1,000 middle school and high school students from throughout Ventura County participated in this year's science fair, held April 22 to 24 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The theme, "Science in Our Lives" encouraged students to pursue projects that involved their daily interaction with science and technology.

"We have come a long way since a handful of students competed in our first county science fair in 1955," said Charles Weis, Ventura County school superintendent. ". . . the science fair continues to experience tremendous growth, both in participation, sponsorship and the development of the Science Career Expo, an interactive expo with a strong focus on local industry, including biotechnology and agriculture."