The Superintendent of GISD Schools, “Sable is the first middle school student in the history of the district to do this.” In 2017, a student from Ball High School was the sole individual to represent GISD at the state science fair. This honor was previously held by the student.
During the most recent meeting of the GISD Board of Trustees, Clift was honored for her accomplishments and received recognition from both Dr. Gibson and the board.
Scientific Young Innovators Challenge 2023
Clift’s project, “Banana Pads,” an environmentally friendly solution to the absorption material found in feminine hygiene products, put her in competition with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in her category at the regional level. She had to win first place at both of these levels in order to advance to the state competition. Clift won first place at both of these levels.
“Sable’s performance was indeed outstanding at the Texas State Science Fair, GISD’s District Science K-12 Coordinator Dr. Jean Langevine said. “Most of the Categories had on average 15 to 20 competitors for only one blue ribbon which Sable received for her category. There are no second or third places at the state level.”
“In addition to Sable being presented with her blue ribbon medal, Langevine informed me that she has also been chosen as a national nominee for the 2023 Thermo Fisher Scientific Young Innovators Challenge, which is a competition run by the Society for Science.” Throughout the time when Sable is getting ready for the national competition, I will be working with her.
The Thermo Fisher Junior Innovation Challenge is the most prestigious STEM research competition for middle school children in the United States. Only the top 10 percent of students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades who compete at fairs affiliated with the Society each year are nominated to enter — this is an incredible accomplishment for Sable!
Clift and more than 300 other middle school students from Austin and Central Middle Schools began working on their project at the beginning of the school year in order to get ready for the GISD All-District Science Fair, which was held in January. This was another significant event in history because it was the biggest ever staged in the district. You can also check Texas Best Warrior Supports Partner Countries Program.
Who is the district science fair coordinator for GISD and an advanced science teacher at Austin, “After the pandemic, like everyone else, we were reluctant to get our in-person science fair program up and running again.” We considered this to be our second annual fair this year, and with the assistance of many people at GISD as well as our local and community partners, we were able to make it the largest fair in the history of the district.
“A science fair is much more than a competition of projects,” Nall said. “It is a way for students to learn to think critically about a subject or phenomena that interests them. The science fair takes in all the disciplines, such as running data, writing, creating bibliographies, abstract writing, design and layout, hypothesis, and problem solving, and most importantly, success, responsibility, and even failure. One can still learn from a failed hypothesis,” Nall added.
Following the competition that was sponsored by GISD in the month of January, 54 students were chosen to participate in the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston, which took place in the month of February. GISD has again established a new benchmark by sending a greater number of students to regional competitions than in any previous year.
In addition, as a result of her efforts, Nall was awarded the title of Teacher of the Year in the Junior Division at the Science and Engineering Fair held in Houston. You can see that in Texas, Senate Budget Proposes Billions For Teacher Increases.
“Now that GISD has rearranged the middle schools and we have the sixth grade on one campus, we can focus on the science fair with this age group, create a long-term love of science, and hopefully bring back some of the sparks in our learning processes,” said Nall. “This will allow us to bring some of the excitement back into our educational practices.”
