2021 Regional Science Fair announces winners

The 65th annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair concluded Tuesday night with the announcement of the winners and award recipients.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, the fair was entirely virtual. In years past, it has been held in the Show Me Center, with hundreds of students standing near their displays exhibiting their projects. This year, students presented their projects through a recorded video and submitted materials.

Winners and award recipients for the junior and senior divisions were announced Tuesday evening by science fair director Chelsea Grigery via YouTube livestream.

Three top senior division projects were selected to participate in the 2021 Virtual Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, an opportunity to meet and compete with more than 1,800 students from about 70 countries: Mallorie Coffee — whose project involved avoiding antibiotic resistance — and Elijah Jones — who worked on Limbergin E, a compound with medical applications to help fight disease in developing nations — both from Jackson High School, and Hiren Parekh from Saxony Lutheran High School, whose project involved developing a way to synthesize Pannokin D, which could be used in development of new anticancer chemotherapeutics and pharmaceuticals for many other diseases.

The two schools with the most wins were Immaculate Conception School in Jackson and Jackson Senior High School. Twenty-two students from Immaculate Conception placed in the nine junior divisions. Nine Jackson High students placed in the four senior divisions, winning the best overall title in each division.

Students competed from all over the region, from the Bernie School District in the Bootheel to St. Joseph Catholic School in Farmington.

The winner announcement video of all 13 divisions and 24 awards may be watched at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn2Xm5YkY8Y.

The 2022 Regional Science Fair is scheduled for March 8 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.