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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Student takes science project to new heights
Published March 31, 2009
SEGUIN — Making a volcano erupt using baking soda and vinegar, or hooking a light bulb up to a battery are all good science fair projects, but one Seguin student has gone quite a bit further in her quest for knowledge.
Seguin High School junior Elizabeth Dick has been competing in science competitions since she first started at the high school, said biology teacher Donna Boelter.
“She has gone to the state science fair every year,” she said. “Her first project was a botany project, then she switched to zoology.”
Having her hand in many different organizations played a major role in the decision of a topic, Dick said.
“I am involved in 4-H, Science Club, karate and I raised sheep, rabbits and one market pig this year,” she said. “Science Club and 4–H are working together, because I am able to implement the science with the sheep.”
Continuing her exhibit from last year, Dick said she may extend it into another year’s worth of research and even though her topic is a mouthful, there was good reasoning behind it’s creation.
“‘Creating RNAi Implimentics’ — basically it’s a worming medication,” she said. “I choose it because I raise sheep and we were using a wormer that the worms grew resistant to. We did not realize until some of our lambs died and we changed the wormer. It was a mutation in the genome and what I am trying to do is block the mutation from happening.”
Dick was able to present her project at the Exxon–Mobile Texas State Science and Engineering Fair this past weekend, Boelter said.
“She was awarded the Society Verto Biology Award, the Auxiliary Texas Veterinarian Association Award and Honorable Mention for the Division of Animal Science,” she said.
“It is an extreme honor for a child from a regular public school, such as Seguin to be able to go as far and do the things that these kids are doing.”
As the second grand prize winner at the Alamo Regional Science and Engineering Fair, Dick qualified to travel to Reno, Nev. in May to attend the Intel International Science Fair.
Getting the chance to meet numerous worldly junior scientists, Dick said is what she is looking forward to the most.
“I think they said that there will be people from many other counties, like Germany and Japan,” she said. “I am interested in seeing how other people think.”
This will not be Dick’s first opportunity to travel courtesy of her projects, said Boelter.
“Feb. 11 through Feb. 15 she attended the National Junior Academy of Science in Chicago,” Boelter said. “It is a non-placing fair. Being able to go is the reward, and while there, she was able to talk to senior scientists.”
Typical science fairs are not the only place that Dick’s project was displayed this year.
“I was also in a competition at the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo, where I received a $10,000 scholarship,” she said. “I placed second, but since the winner had already received a scholarship from the previous year it was passed down to the second-place winner.”
When it comes to continuing education, this junior says she is looking into different options.
“Right now, I am just having fun but I am looking into science medicine and/or languages,” she said. “I would encourage anybody to join the Science Club, it can open a whole world of opportunities.”
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