Lewiston High Science Fair features 450-plus student projects

The fifth annual Lewiston High School Science Fair takes place from 3-6 p.m Thursday, May 6, in the high school gymnasium, 156 East Ave.

Presented in partnership with the Bates College Center for Service-Learning, the fair features more than 450 projects created by students in grades 9 through 12.

Projects are eligible for medals and cash awards bestowed for best-of-fair and first-, second- and third-place prizes in each of three grade divisions — 9th, 10th and upper-class. Last year, 30 LHS students were honored for their work on a dozen projects.

Projects run the gamut of scientific disciplines. Last year’s winning entries included studies of dissolved oxygen in springtime meltwater, the relationship between exercise and blood pressure and the variance in freezing rates among different juices.

The fair is made possible in part by a partnership with the Bates Center for Service-Learning. Bates students help organize the fair, and last year’s fair involved more than 60 Bates faculty, staff and students who spent an afternoon judging the projects and talking to participants. The college also supports the fair through a Bates Science Education Outreach Grant funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.