MonticelloLive

Ten students and two teachers from Drew Central High School attended the 41st Arkansas Junior Science and Humanities symposium Friday, March 16 through Sunday, March 18 hosted by Arkansas Tech University.

The JSHS promotes original research and experimentation in the sciences, engineering and mathematics at the high school level and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement. Students present papers before a panel of university science and mathematics professors. Two winners from this category received $2,000 and $1,500 scholarships and will attend the National JSHS in Huntsville, AL in early May.

The students from Drew Central participated in the poster category. Five of the six place winners were from Drew Central. The first place winner, Jodi Person, 8th grade student received $100. Her poster and research was over “Monarch Butterflies”; second place and $90 was awarded to freshmen Darren James for his Sizeable Fish poster and paper; junior Bo Sanderlin was awarded the fourth place prize of $80 for his “Digging for Truth” poster and paper; Kyle White, sophomore and fifth place winner received $60 for his poster and research on “Stressed? Me Too”; and Camisha Johnson, junior won sixth place and received $40 for her “Linguistics” poster and research.

Also, attending were students Mario Mondragon, Josh Baird, Gregoria Garcia, Stormey Langhammer, Rachel Hawthorne, and Terry Newman. Teachers attending were Dennis Thurman, science and Karon Parrish, English.

Students were presented demonstrations by faculty and senior Arkansas Tech students on “Radiation: It’s All Around Us,” “Wind Tunnel,” and “Wonderbot and Autonomous Flight Project.” Senior college students involved in these demonstrations are majoring in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Information or Science, and Physical Science with emphasis in Nuclear or Physics. Students are required to present a project before graduation.

In addition to the competitions, students attended two lectures presented during the symposium conducted by Dr. Ivan Still, assistant professor of biology at Tech, presented “When Good Cells Go Bad: How Cancer Develops”. Dr. James Musser, assistant professor of physics at Tech, presented a lecture on particle physics. Students attended field trips to Lake Dardanelle Visitor and Information Center, Dardanelle Lock and Dam, and Bona Dea Nature Trail. The ATU Music Theatre Workshop entertained the students with a cabaret style performance filled with show tunes, and favorite standards.

Dr. Linda Kondrick, assistant professor of physical science at Tech, serves as the Arkansas JSHS director. The Arkansas JSHS has been held on the campus of Arkansas Tech annually for the past 30 years.

“The students attending this weekend are our future doctors, researchers and engineers. We’ve enjoyed having them on campus for the past three days and hope they will continue their research” Kondrick stated.

The three-day competition and field trip activities are funded by the U.S. Army Research Office, the U.S. Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arkansas Tech University, Holiday Inn Russellville, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, Mr. James Palko, Entergy Corporation, Kroger Food Store Russellville, and Turner Holdings, LLC.