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Goal

Our goal is to fund high school student travel to local and regional science competitions. Students will compete individually at Science & Engineering Fairs and as teams at Science Olympiad. This classroom grant funding will allow up to 60 students to attend Walton County Science Fair, Regional Science & Engineering Fair, and Regional Science Olympiad Competition. Providing funding for transportation eliminates barriers and increases participation for students. Participating in science and engineering competitions gives our students the opportunity to compete against other top-performing students from across our region and state. This prepares students for the peer environment they will experience at college and in their future careers.

Competing both individually and collaborating as a team provides valuable real-world skills for high school students interested in pursuing STEM careers. For individual competition, Science & Engineering Fairs allow students to gain experience presenting their own creative project orally to judges. Students develop and conduct an independent science or engineering investigation and then prepare a poster and oral display to present to judges. For team competition, Science Olympiad Teams of 15 students compete in 23 events over the course of one competition day. Events include all aspects of science and engineering, ranging from engineering challenges, hands-on science labs and knowledge-based exams. Working together to compete in rigorous science and engineering challenges gives our students real-world problem solving and teamwork experience.  

 

Category

CTE Focused -  

 

What will be done with my students

This grant will fund student travel to local and regional science and engineering competitions. Providing transportation at no or low cost to students greatly increases the number of students who can participate in after-school competitions.

For Science & Engineering Fair competitions, this grant will fully fund bus transportation costs for 30 students to travel to the Walton County Science Fair on December 7, 2026 after school and the East Panhandle Regional Science & Engineering Fair on February 10, 2026 after school.

For Science Olympiad, this grant will fully fund bus transportation costs for 30 students and partially fund hotel costs for 30 students, 3 chaperones, and 1 bus driver to travel to the competition on February 13, 2027 at University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

In advance of these competitions, students will prepare for the competitions during and after school. For Science & Engineering Fair, students will plan and conduct an independent research project on a topic of their choice. When complete, they will prepare poster displays of their results and practice oral presentations for judges in peer groups. For Science Olympiad, 2 teams of 15 will meet weekly after school and during lunch under the supervision of 2 coaches, to study and practice for the 23 different science & engineering events. Events may include activities in which students demonstrate lab skills (e. g. forensic chemistry), pre-build an engineering challenge (e. g. catapult), or demonstrate knowledge of a specialized area of science (e. g. ornithology).

Both Science & Engineering Fair and Science Olympiad competitions directly address many standards in multiple science courses, including:
Standards
SC.912.N.1.1: Define a problem based on a specific body of knowledge, for example: biology, chemistry, physics, and earth/space science, and use tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data and communicate results of scientific investigations.
SC.912.L.14.4, SC.912.N.2.1, SC.912.N.2.2, SC.912.N.3.1, SC.912.N.3.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of science and how to correctly use appropriate medical and scientific equipment.
MA.K12.MTR.1.1: Actively participate in effortful learning both individually and collectively.  

 

Benefits to my Students

Our high school students have a strong interest in science, math, and engineering. Offering science and engineering competition opportunities allows them to extend and deepen their knowledge and abilities while competing with other high-performing students from around the region, state, and country. The travel cost to attend competitions can be a barrier for some students, especially if they want to participate in more than one competition.

Project goals will be measured by the number of students participating. Our goal is to take 30 students to Science & Engineering Fairs and 30 students to Science Olympiad. There is some overlap in participation between competitions, we estimate that about 45 total students will benefit from this grant funding, representing about 30% of student enrollment at our school. During the previous school year, 17 students participated in Science Fair and 10 students participated in Science Olympiad.  

 

Budget Narrative

Providing transportation for students to attend science and engineering competitions at no or minimal cost greatly increases the ability of students to participate. By removing the burden of paying transportation costs from students and parents, we can greatly increase the number of students that will be able to attend competitions. We plan to increase participation in Science & Engineering Fair from 17 to 30 students, and Science Olympiad from 10 to 30 students.  

 

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