(COVINGTON, La.) –Jan. 27, 2016, the St. Paul’s science fair winners got the chance to compete at the annual science fair at Southeastern Louisiana University. The fair had many categories for the students to participate in. Out of all the SPS students that went, many placed and will be going to the state level science fair.

At the Southeastern fair, students set up their boards and waited to present them to the judges. The judges went to each project individually.

This was a new experience for many participants such as Kristian McHugh and his partner, Matthew Lyon. They did their project by testing if rock sediment affects Daphnia Magna, and won in their category.

“I had a new and fun experience at the science fair,” sophomore McHugh said. “This was my first time at the science fair, and I thought it was interesting how many projects there were.”

For many students, this was a great opportunity to show off their science skills and get their name into the science world as well. It’s also a great resume builder for colleges.

The following students all participated in the Region 8 science fair: Paul Stolin, Blake Bolinger, Alex Paille, Shane Strander, Jeffrey Tepper, Alex Klocek, Alex Nguyen, Landon Rees, Matthew Lyon, Kristian McHugh, Andrew Norlin, Josh Devier, Cole Chitwood, Beau Franklin, Luke Vargas, and Daniel Nunez.

SPS had many winners, which included Paul Stolin first place in Biochemistry, Alex Paille second place in Biomedical and Health, Joshua Devier first place in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Shane Strander and Jeffrey Tepper first place in Chemistry, Alexander Nguyen second place in Computer Science, Matthew Lyon and Kristian McHugh first place in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cole Chitwood and Beau Franklin first place in Energy, Andrew Norlin second place in Microbiology, and Luke Vargas and Daniel Nunez third place in Plant Sciences.

These students are now preparing for the state fair to be held at Louisiana State University in March.