GHS wins 24th straight regional science fair

Greybull High School extended its science fair regional championship run to 24 years last week. Greybull hosted the Northern Wyoming Regional Science and Engineering Fair on Tuesday, Jan. 20, competing against Meeteetse and Hot Springs County high schools. 

All five GHS projects will advance to the Wyoming State Science Fair at the University of Wyoming in March. 

Senior Caden Thacker was the big winner of the evening, with her project “Determining the Potential Toxicity of Fracking Surfactants: An Assessment of Product Viability to Reduce Environmental Water Contamination” bringing home first place in Environmental Sciences along with special recognition from the Association of Women Geoscientists, NASA, RICOH and the Office of Naval Research. Thacker also received a nomination to submit her research to the US Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. She was selected as this year’s Regional Grand Champion and will compete at the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair in Phoenix in May.

Also receiving multiple special awards was freshman Josephine Boyer. Her project “Brain Health Supplements and Cellular Development: Determining the Potential of OTC Preparations Through the Utilization of In-Vitro Brain Cell Analysis” earned first place in Biomedical and Health Sciences and special recognition from the Society for In-Vitro Biology and the Office of Naval Research. She also received a very special award for $375 from Regeneron for the top biomedical research. 

Jack Pharoah’s “Determining the Potential for Artifact Point Ratios as an Indicator of Cultural Shifts Impacting the Tukudeka Shoshone in the Yellowstone Ecosystem” placed first in Behavioral and Social Sciences and won the American Psychological Association award. Kaci Ebright’s “Assessing the Antimicrobial Potential of Non-Traditional Culinary Spices to Impact the Growth and Development of E. coli K-12” took first in Microbiology, and McKenzie Potter’s “An Analysis of Surface Treatment Impacts on the Resonant Frequencies of Specific Wood Types Using FFT Analysis” took first in physics. 

Thacker, Boyer, Ebright and Potter were the top four projects at the fair.