Who would’ve thought that the dreadful science fair most, if not all high school students are subjected to would one day have ME for a judge?! Yes you read that right! On Friday, February 20th, I returned to my alma mater Benjamin Banneker Academic High School (Go Achievers! woo!) to be a judge for the science fair. Rightfully so I was placed in the Math/Computer Science/Engineering section. I even dabbled in judging a Physics project too (I could’ve done more than one but I wanted to stay in my assigned section teehee).
Anyways it was a long, interesting day. The projects were interesting. Some had a lot of potential. Some you could tell the passion the students put into their project just by the energy exuded during the presentation. And some, well, they’ll get a decent grade from their teachers. I was especially happy that two projects fell directly in my field * inserts evil laugh *. But honestly being a judge really reconfirmed my passion to help students harness their true potentials. After the official Q&A I gave each student feedback on things they could consider if they were to do the project again. Given their grade level it was evident that some students just didn’t have the exposure yet to know to ask particular types of questions. Most seemed to be very receptive to the feedback.
My fellow Math/CS/Eng judges were awesome as well and we all seemed to come to a consensus when it came down to awarding the winners. Personally, this was a rewarding experience in itself :).