The Daily Agenda: Tackling the world’s problems
Each year, thousands of Southern Arizona students participate in the SARSEF regional science fair … It's an annual reminder that the future is bright… TUSD needs money help.
In a little over a month, thousands of students from Southern Arizona and beyond will be taking the future into their hands as they try to answer questions or solve problems that they think matter.
They’ll do this as part of the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation’s Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which for nearly 70 years has challenged students to think big.
SARSEF’s annual fair includes students from across the state ranging from Pre-K through high school, working individually or in teams on projects in more than a dozen categories, including animal sciences, food and nutrition, environmental studies, sustainability and renewable energy and more.
With the top 15 to 20% of students in hundreds of schools taking part in the fair each year and the addition of a virtual presentation floor, participation has grown in recent years, topping out last year at more than 5,900 students.
But hosting thousands of students, even in a partially virtual setting, requires a lot of work by hundreds of dedicated volunteers, including judges who help pick the best out of more than a thousand virtual and in-person entries, and hands-on assistance at the in-person high school presentations and awards ceremony and STEM Expo that follows.
SARSEF CEO Julie Euber says that for those involved, the fair is a labor of love and Fair Director Dani Wright called it a Tucson tradition. They agreed that every year, the fair leaves them with the feeling that the future is bright, as they watch kids and teens take on real-world problems.
In its 69th year, the fair awards more than $100,000 in prizes, trips and scholarships each year thanks to community support through donations and sponsored awards. High school winners move on to international competitions and have even gone on to change the world.
You may have heard of Jeremiah Pate, a University of Arizona alum who in 2020, made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Manufacturing and Industry. Pate’s first-grade SARSEF science project explored paper airplane designs to see which one would fly furthest. By high school, he had engineered a radar satellite system called LunaSonde that can visualize more than a mile underground and essentially takes an MRI of the planet. Seven years after its creation, LunaSonde has contracts from governments, NGOs and multinationals and has raised more than $11 million in capital from investors.
But even for the students who don’t go on to become millionaires through tech startups, the fair still has an impact. It puts them in front of scientists and engineers and helps them break down stereotypes about the industries and people doing the work, said Wright.
Judges talk to the students and ask them questions about their projects, which Wright said is both the students’ and judges’ favorite part.
“The judges absolutely love talking to these students and seeing that the future is in good hands. That the future is in the hands of these young scientists and engineers who are researching and tackling the problems that make us as adults nervous,” she said. “And for students, seeing real scientists and engineers care about the work that they’re doing, means everything to them.”
And with the creation of the virtual project floor during COVID, the entire community can get involved and ask questions and leave comments and praise for students, which Wright said they just love.
The move to online also made the fair more equitable, Euber said, since all students are now using a computer and a similar program to put their projects together. The online floor also means more students and families can participate, since travel is no longer required for the elementary and middle school competition.
“The flexibility that becoming a hybrid fair has allowed… it’s not just a Tucson fair, it’s anything south of the Gila River,” Wright said. “It’s a significant portion of Arizona who’s able to participate in this fair, many of whom could not have before.”
The fair has grown so much in recent years that organizers had to find a new venue, after they could no longer fit all the participants into the largest room at the Tucson Convention Center. This year, judging and interviews for high school participants will be held in the UArizona Health Sciences Innovation Building, with the post-fair awards ceremony and Community STEM Expo taking place at Reid Park.
“It just validates that when they use their brains, really positive things happen,” Euber said.
Science has always been a part of physicist Antonio Ramirez’s life, but the fair holds a special place in his heart. Ramirez started judging science fairs at his now college-aged daughter’s school after helping her with her project in the first grade. He got involved with SARSEF several years ago.
“My school system didn’t have a big science fair and even when it did, I didn’t really participate that much,” Ramirez said. “So, volunteering at the fair and moving from a school to regional competition was very different for me. It was incredible to see the students that filled up the convention center floor space.”
After judging for a few years, Ramirez decided to become a board member. He’s proud of the fair’s reach, both in terms of students and volunteers, saying that the minimal time commitment required to help out is a big draw for a lot of people.
This rang true for his daughter, who was able to spend part of a day judging last year while home from ASU on spring break, only a handful of years after she last participated in the fair as a student.
“Doing science fair is a valuable experience because ultimately … we’re all solving problems together. I always come home feeling better about the world,” said Fair Director Wright. “It’s optimistic, but it’s certainly not shying away from the problems that exist. It’s not escapist, it’s absolutely hitting problems head-on, but it’s doing so through the wonder, the passion, the hope that children have and that we would be great to emulate.”
Project registration is open through February 25 and SARSEF is recruiting judges through March 1. You can learn more about the fair here.
Well, that’s something: A week after the University of Arizona hired a new football coach, Athletic Director Dave Heeke is on his way out, the Arizona Daily Star’s Michael Lev reports. It’s unclear from President Robert C. Robbins’ Monday announcement if Heeke was fired or the parting of ways was mutual, with Robbins saying the school was undertaking a “transition in leadership” for the department. Heeke will leave the position in early February, with former UA softball coach Mike Candrea stepping in as interim athletic director, pending Arizona Board of Regent approval.
More money for school cafeterias: Tucson Unified School District is increasing funding for temporary food service workers from $850,000 to as much as $1.35 million, the Arizona Daily Star’s Jessica Votipka writes. Governing board members learned last week about the 20% vacancy rate in district food service workers. The funding increase of up to $500,000 per year is for the rest of this fiscal year and each of the next four years.
Where the money went: The state’s $1.7 billion budget deficit for this year and next year looms over basically everything that’s happening at the state Legislature this year. So how did we get here, when last year we had a budget surplus? A pair of economists walked Arizona Public Media’s Paola Rodriguez and Zac Ziegler through the decline in tax revenue, the role of school vouchers, and where last year’s surplus went.
Tucson’s growing: City officials are asking the public for input on how Tucson should grow, with an eye on an estimated 77,000 new residents over the next few decades. They want feedback from Tucson residents about where they think the city should encourage new homes, what types of businesses they’d like to see in different parts of the city, and other issues. Just plug in your answers and you’ll see them appear in the Growth Scenario Map.
Chaos playwrights: The chaos theater at the border doesn’t just come out of thin air; it’s made by people like “Jaeson” Jones, the Border Chronicle’s Melissa del Bosque reports. And if Jones and his “MAGA media militia” are to be believed, the images they create at the border aren’t just meant for the public. They’re also sent directly to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which is leading the charge to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Conflicts of interest: If a company stands to benefit from voters approving a bond, should that company be allowed to contribute money to a campaign to get the bond passed? That’s the question addressed by a bill in the state House and skillfully dissected by KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky. Right now, companies make those donations all the time. As the debate unfolds, state Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democat from Tucson, wants to make sure school districts, which often depend on bonds to make ends meet, don’t get caught in the political crossfire. State Rep. Cory McGarr, a Republican from Marana, said it would be “good policy to not allow people to have an obvious conflict of interest.” And shocker of all shockers, the bill wouldn’t address contributions to political action committees.
1,600: The number of entries in last year’s SARSEF’s Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Each year, the fair looks to recruit between 300 and 400 judges.
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