I am a Sophmore at Basehor Linwood High School and I am researching the use of Anabaena sp. as a photoprotectant against UV-B for Oryza Sativa.
My post high school goals include: Getting a degree in Biochemistry, singing opera, and joining a symphony as a violinist
STEM courses I have taken: I have taken Honors Biology, Intro to Industrial Tech, and I have been to the Cosmosphere's space camp
Current research overview: After completing my experiment I then measured the height and weight of my rice plants. All of the results pointed to the idea that my research was not statistically significant with only one of my plant groups rejecting the null hypothesis (that being the algae and rice group). I took this information and transferred it to my board and research paper, and off I went to the Greater Science Fair of Kansas City.
The lead-up to the fair was terrifying, but once we arrived at Union Station all of my stress began to go away. After checking out the other projects in my division as well as others, I finally started to feel that I had created a quality project that could stand alone on its own. Shortly after examining the projects of my competitors, the team and I went out for food and proceeded to wait for 4 hours until the senior interviews began.
The interviews were so much fun because I was able to converse with other scientists who had gone through the same sorts of research processes as I had. The judges were (for the most part) very nice and gave fantastic advice on how I could improve my project. After the hour of interviews was up, I wanted to talk even more.
When the results came back on who won what award; although I only received a silver ribbon, I still felt that all the hard work I put into my experiment was worth it.