Gabriella Blatt and Maddy Reichelt
The Big Sandy High School Research students recently attended two science fair; the Hi-Line Regional Fair in Havre and the Montana Science Fair in Missoula.
Earning top honors at the Hi-Line Fair were Jessica Roth, for her project entitled "Computing with Physarum polycephalum" and Madison Reichelt and Gabriella Blatt, for their project entitled "The Feasibility of Dendroctonus ponderosa Infested Pinus ponderosa as a Source of Biomass in Bio-Oil Production". They will be representing the Hi-Line region at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair held in Phoenix in May. They will be competing against 1700 students from over 120 different countries. This "once-in-a-lifetime" experience will actually be the second time around for Madison and Gabriella. Madison qualified last year with her project on contamination in Carpenter Creek and Gabriella qualified as a freshman when she was Mrs. Schwarzbach's student in Box Elder with her project on groundwater contamination in the Bakken Formation.
Earning third place grand award honors was Duke Darlington, for his project entitled "The Effects of Roads on Bobcat Migration Patterns".
Special awards earned at the Hi-Line fair include: Jessica Roth: Society - InVitro Biology, US Air Force, US Navy; Madison Reichelt/Gabriella Blatt: ASM Materials Education Foundation Award, ASU Walton Sustainability Award, Ricoh Americas Corporation, US Air Force; Duke Darlington: US Navy; Everett Sipler: Yale Science & Engineering Society
Madison Reichelt and Gabriella Blatt continued to earn honors, as they were awarded 3rd place Grand Award at the Montana Science Fair. They also earned honors from the UM Business School for the best project related to economics, the NorthWestern Energy 1st place Award for an energy-related project and the UM Chemistry Department Outstanding Award. Duke Darlington was awarded the Best Wildlife Project from Ecology Project International, along with a scholarship to attend a week-long camp at Yellowstone Park this summer.
