Jackson Progress-Argus

Photo by Hugh Osteen

On Feb. 28, 30 students from Henderson Middle School had the opportunity to attend the Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) Science and Engineering Fair in Griffin. The students were invited to attend the day-long event by virtue of completing science projects that won at the school-level science fair.

Some of the students worked individually on their winning science projects, and others worked together on projects in groups as large as three students. Out of the 21 projects HMS took to the RESA Science Fair, 13 received first, second or third place in their categories. These projects competed against entries from Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties.

Timothy Shockley was Henderson's first-place winner. He will be advancing to competition at the state level, which is held near the University of Georgia main campus in Athens. Shockley's project was entitled "Parachute Hang Time."

The HMS second-place winners at the RESA Science Fair were Ramirra Marshall; Anslie Ballew; Katie Gafford; Quin Weaver; Will Bice and Keith Russell; and Dylan Spraggins and Caleb McCullough.

Winning third place at the RESA Science Fair were Joba Duke; Alan Powell; Hannah Potts; Lauren Love, Samuel Elliott, and Alex Hammock; Jasmine White, Claire Schuessler, Brittany Royals; and Aaron Kline and Jonathan Powell.

Duke is in sixth-grade, and Marshall, Ballew, Powell, and Potts are in seventh-grade. The other winners are in the eighth-grade at Henderson.

Gafford's project was entitled, "Which rise and run makes all three golf balls loop-the-loop?" The project by Elliott and Love was entitled, "How does temperature affect gasses?" Kline and Powell conducted their science experiment on "Steam Flow in a Hydroelectric Power Plant." Spraggins and McCullough's project was on "The Levitating Car," and the project by White, Schuessler, and Royals was "Adventures in the Properties of the Liquids."

The RESA Science Fair is held jointly for middle school and high school students. Corporate sponsors offer special awards to many of the high school winners. Students attending set up their own projects and answer questions from judges. They are also able to view the projects of other students and attend workshops.