Area students prepare experiments for next week's science fair

Perhaps it's true what they say: Great minds do think alike.

Case in point, identical twin sisters Tayla and Logan Meyr.

On Wednesday, the seventh-graders at St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson were putting the finishing touches on their science experiment titled "Do Identical Twins Have the Same Opinions?"

Turns out they do -- at least the identical twins in the control group interviewed by the young scientists. And none more than the experimenters, who turned the experiment on themselves.

"We tested four separate sets of twins, and me and my sister had the most alike answers," Tayla Meyr said.

The seventh-graders are among 449 students from 29 area junior high and high schools set to compete in Tuesday's 55th annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair at the Show Me Center. Students begin setting up at 9 a.m., and judging takes place from 1 to 3 p.m.

Then the doors open to the public, where science projects covering everything from botany to zoology will be on display. There are plenty of projects to pique scientific curiosity, including the behavioral social sciences experiment titled "Wow! That's a Tough Baby."

Winners will be announced in a ceremony at 7:30 p.m.

"Some of those little girls really dress up, like it's the Oscars," said Wilma Huffman, administrative assistant with the College of Science and Mathematics at Southeast Missouri State University. "They wear those spiked heels, and you can hear them coming down those bleachers."

Huffman, who also serves as secretary of the science fair, said many students put weeks, if not months, into their projects. Two winners and their teachers from the senior level, ninth to 12th grade, and an observing student selected from the junior division of seventh- and eighth-graders will receive all-expenses-paid trips to the international science fair in Los Angeles in May.

Huffman said the science fair has witnessed significant growth in recent years, from 341 participating students in 2009 to 413 last year. The Perry County School District is bringing 70 students to this year's competition, Huffman said. Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts are not well represented, Huffman said; the districts are sending three students combined.

While she's excited about the fair and curious about science, Logan Meyr said she's not prepared to commit to a career as an experimental scientist just yet.

"I think it's cool, but I don't know yet," she said.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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