Four students win the AEP Environmental Science Award at the Southeast Ohio District 12 Science Fair Day 2023

The District 12 Science Day (DSD) aims to highlight the accomplishments of Southeast Ohio’s young scientists. Held on March 25, 2023, at Heritage Hall on the Ohio University Athens Campus, the University hosted 11 schools from the 7-county district. There were 95 students in attendance from fifth grade through grade 12 presenting 81 student projects.

The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, through a gift from The American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio Fund of the Columbus Foundation, awarded $100 to two students and $50 to two students for their projects dedicated to environmental science.

AEP Foundation Environmental Science Award winners included Hanano Austin, a seventh grader from Athens Middle School; Easton White, a fifth grader from Unioto Elementary; and Anna Helber and Autumn Vick, both sixth graders from Zane Trace Middle School.

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Building on Austin’s self-rotating solar panel science fair project from 2022, Austin presented an improved rotating solar panel complete with the programming and a small-scale demonstration unit. 

White’s project compared the relationship between air and water quality building on a personal experience his family encountered and curiosity about the health of his axolotl.

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Helber and Vick presented a group project titled, “Feces Fertilizer,” where they compared the growth and biomass of plants growing in various fertilizers they made from manures collected from their farm. 

“Congratulations to all four AEP Foundation Environmental Science fair winners on their research and interest in environmental science. It is so inspiring to meet these talented students participating in science fair and hear about their projects, interest in science, and their research,” Jen Bowman, director of Environmental Programs at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, said.

The funders for the District 12 Science Fair Day included Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, College of Arts and Sciences, Russ College of Engineering, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio Research Division, and Brennen’s Coffee Cafe. The Voinovich School’s PORTSfuture Program and American Electric Power Fund of the Columbus Foundation provided support to Science Fair schools in District 12. The PORTSfuture Program is funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office.

Ohio University wishes to thank all of those who participated in making the DSD a huge success, particularly District Director Dr. Natalie Kruse Daniels, professor and director of the Environmental Studies Program at Ohio University.