2 Northwestern students headed to International Science Fair

May 13—It's one of the best college-resume builders a student can get.

It can lead to big-time scholarship money and open doors that are otherwise not possible.

Winners have gone on to win thousands of dollars and earn full rides to college.

Making the International Science and Engineering Fair can be a big deal.

"This is the most prestigious contest for science students," said Linda Wilson, a science teacher at Northwestern High School. "Colleges want these kids. They want all these kids."

To make the science fair is to be a part of a group of 1,800 students worldwide.

Two of those spots went to Northwestern High School students Adam Lesko and Sam Martin.

On Sunday, they headed to Los Angeles, where they will show their projects and spend a week immersed in science programming.

This is Martin's second appearance. The sophomore went last year when the science fair was in Dallas.

"My freshman year, I was totally blindsided," Martin said. "This year, I thought I had a good chance."

Martin's project looked at the effects of lichens as a form of antifeedant. Lichen, in simple terms, is a symbiotic partnership between fungi and algae, and is essential to ecosystems.

Antifeedants are produced by plants as a form of repellant against organisms that eat the plant. They are toxic and can affect brain chemistry, causing seizures, according to Martin.

Martin's project tested whether these antifeedants could be used as a natural pesticide. The results are promising.

It could be a safer alternative, especially in developing countries. Martin said many people in developing countries have synthetic pesticides in their system.

"All you have to do is find a plant that grows in the area already," he said.

To make it to the International Science Fair out of Indiana, one must perform well at other science fairs, like the East Central Indiana Science Fair at Ball State University.

Lesko's project is about how different acidities impact the health of a sweet corn kernel.

He fertilized seeds with vinegar, water and agricultural lime, commonly used on farm fields.

The freshmen found that lime resulted in the longest root lengths but vinegar produced more roots. This indicates two things.

"It taught us sweet corn can live in a basic soil (lime)," Lesko said at the Howard County Science Fair in February. "(And) it tells us roots can survive in an acidic soil."

However, there's a big catch with the vinegar results. Nematodes like acidic soil, and they like corn.

Lesko's experiment also observed nematode activity.

While an acidic soil can produce more root systems for corn, it might also attract organisms that could damage the crop. It's something to consider before planting and using any fertilizer.

The nematodes from one of the first episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants" is the inspiration behind the project.

The students will show their projects Wednesday and be questioned by judges, usually high-ranking college professors.

"It's not uncommon to be interviewed by Nobel Prize winners," Wilson said.

One of the first things students do when they arrive is find their name on a wall with all the participants. Wilson said the kids are treated like rock stars during the week.

Martin said he enjoyed meeting people from all parts of the world last year.

"It's kind of eye-opening, you can be really smart for Northwestern then go there and you're like a little below average," he said.

The are two days of award ceremonies later in the week. The top winner could win close to $100,000. To place at all is a high honor.

Some students who make the science fair conduct research with college professors as part of their project. Northwestern students either do their projects in one of Wilson's classes or on their own time.

Sending students to the International Science Fair is sort of a tradition at Northwestern. More than two dozen students have gone. Some have placed.

The first step in making the science fair is coming up with an idea, and Wilson pushes her kids on this front. Students need to have multiple options.

"We want them to choose an idea they like," Wilson said. "We shoot down a lot of projects."

"The idea is the hardest part," Martin said.

A good science fair project has a hypothesis and purpose — standard scientific method stuff — that also tests the main inquiry in multiple ways, according to Wilson.

"To get to my idea, I probably asked 100 questions," Lesko said. "You have to love your project."

Wilson makes her students write a research paper. It helps prepare them for questions judges might ask.

"They need to be an expert on their topic," she said.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.