Hundreds participate in science fair
By John Earp
Two hundred and thirteen Jal Junior High School students participated in the science fair this week. Coach Joe Soliz has been promoting and organizing the science fair for the past 5 years since he has been teaching science at Jal Junior High. One hundred and eleven Jal Elementary student, grades 4 through 6, participated this year. Each student picks their project. Mr. Soliz said, “they are told from day one to pick their project. Their project should answer a question. Even my special needs kids will do a project. The one he did was, ‘How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?’ He did fine. He had to get six people and he had to have them lick and I had to teach him how to average. He did it in class, his daddy bought the Tootsie Roll Pops for him and he sat there and they licked it and licked it. He even had the technique down.”
Soliz plans next year to take the top four student projects to a regional science fair at Eastern New Mexico University. Soliz reflects on a student he once taught at Loving, a few years ago. He said, “She fought me every inch of the way. She made what’s called a tsunami stopper. It’s sound waves and its plausible and it worked in her little pool. She got a scholarship at Eastern, and even had money left over and she bought her a used car. Now she’s out here working at Monahans for Halliburton. She got a full ride scholarship to ENMU. This year, I wanted her to come, but I haven’t heard back from her.”
The students had timelines and deadlines to meet when constructing their science fair projects. Soliz said, “I want to thank the administrators for allowing me to do this, because a lot goes into it and without their help we wouldn’t have this nice gym and everything else. I would also like to say thank you to Iron Horse Grille for the food they provided, and for RJ Threadart for providing the trophies.” He said, “They did a good job, like always.”
Several local residents of Jal were chosen to help judge the projects, including Jackie Ford, Silver Melancon, John and Jaime Earp, Jenny Edwards, Kristi Sauceda, Laura Soliz, Anais Chavez, and Liz Alonso.
Soliz hopes to see the science fair extended to include even more grades in Jal Schools in the future, and also would like to see students participating in district and regional meets next year if possible.