New affiliation for Fauquier County (VA) regional science and engineering fair

The Fauquier County Regional Science & Engineering Fair, slated for March 22, 2014, at Stoneridge Events Center in Warrenton, will be affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the most prestigious science competition for high school students in the world. 

Students from over 70 countries vie for prizes in excess of $4 million each year at the Intel Fair.

This year the Fauquier County regional fair will send one high school science fair project and its winner (or winning team members) to an all-expenses-paid trip to the international competition in Los Angeles in mid-May to compete with approximately 1,600 other high school students.

FCPS is partnering with Learning Tree International, Inc. to hold the regional fair, which is open to private, public and homeschooled sixth- through 12th-grade students.

Students who win at their local middle or high school science fair will progress to the Fauquier County regional fair.

Warrenton Middle School math teacher Vineeta Ribeiro, who is coordinating the regional fair, said she was excited to learn last week that the Society for Science and the Public (which oversees the international fair) is waiving its usual one-year operational requirement for the Fauquier County regional fair, paving the way for the affiliation with ISEF.

“They are satisfied that the Fauquier County Regional Science & Engineering Fair is organized, supported and funded well enough to be sustainable, with the potential for growth,” Ribeiro said.

In addition to the student(s) fortunate enough to progress to the Intel international fair, Ribeiro said that three to five of the top winners from the regional fair (at the high school level) will progress to the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair to be held at Virginia Military Institute March 29, 2014.

For more information about the Fauquier County Regional Science & Engineering Fair, visit http://www.FauquierScienceFair.com