Tehachapi News

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Tompkins Elementary School hosted their first Science Fair in many years, on Friday, Feb. 22. Although the Science Fair was geared primarily toward 4th and 5th graders, a few 3rd graders also participated by bringing in projects.

In completing a project, students worked through the scientific process. They started with a hypothesis, and ended with a conclusion. Judges evaluated each project carefully, with several criteria to consider. The judging took between four and five hours to complete, including an interview with students who had top-scoring projects.

In the end, there were eight 1st place projects, eight 2nd place projects, and eight 3rd place projects. The two students with the highest scoring projects will represent Tompkins and the Kern County Regional Science Fair in April.

Tompkins was fortunate to have an outstanding group of people judging the science projects. The judges included engineers from Edwards Air Force Base, students from Mrs. Hollen’s Tehachapi High School physics class, a Tehachapi Unified School District (TUSD) board member and former teacher, TUSD director of personnel, and several other very qualified judges. The judges were: Judy Walsh, Barbara Hoyt, David Andreasen, Mickey Bowen, Ben Castillo, Mike Golackson, Tyler Carr, Alyssa Fechner, Nick Gividen, Joey Hack, Shastyn Harris, Grant Rosander, Karissa Schultz, Anna Gonzalez, and Josh Snider.