Science Fair and Effort

Basically, for my school science fair project which we got into states with, we researched the growth of plants using hydroponics. We had grown 5 plants using regular traditional methods and 5 other plants using the special water-based nutrient solution and it showed good promise as we had better results aka heavier plant meaning more crop. During this time I was really happy we made it to states because it’s supposed to be an accomplishment and was even having expectations for a medal but once I got to states my whole world opened up and showed me how much effort could be done.

Everything was on a much higher level and It showed me what real hard work and dedication could get you. Me and my partners just put in just slightly above average effort and thought it could get us far. After the district science fair, I remember there was a two month period in which we could get more testing done and our science teacher recommended us to do so. We ignored the advice. We could have done more research, even changing up our board to make it more professional or rehearsing/practicing our lines more. But we did nothing and we got exactly what was coming our way.

When judges came around to our board we got shown up due to our small scale compared to the big size of states. Especially when it came to the scale of the plant testing, as I still remember one of the judges said “The sample size is really small, this wouldn’t convince many people”. Sadly, in my head I agreed with them. After all the judging was over I was talking to another person next to me who I later saw win an award, she seemed like she came prepared for the state level as her level of testing was far deeper than ours.

Through this experience, I learned you will get how much you work for it.