 It's 9 30 so we will Convene the opening of the 36, North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair. Good morning to everyone I'm Tom Williams a member of the board and co-director of the state science fair On behalf of our foundation board the North Carolina sound the North Carolina science fair foundation The proud sponsor of the North Carolina science and engineering fair We want to welcome each of you for being here today We also want to especially recognize and thank our host site North Carolina State University For affording us the privilege of having a space where we can convene everybody in the same room at the same time For the opening program as well as for awards. I would like to just quickly Encourage you to follow us on social media. We have three accounts out there. We'd love to see you Celebrate things that you experience today This slide is going to be on the last slide as well If any of you haven't already taken a picture of the QR code It will take you to our website that will give all of the bookmarks for the key things around the fair today So I'd encourage you to take a picture of it now. If not the last slide It's going to be up there for you again at the end of the program At this time it's my privilege to recognize dr. Gary Keller Kelly our chairman of the foundation board to bring welcoming remarks Gary All right. Good morning Oh Can we try one more time? Good morning? I know it's a little early. All right. All right I want to welcome all each and every one of you to the 36th Annual North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair that is sponsored by the non-profit North Carolina Science Foundation We appreciate you all coming in this morning We hope that you all have a great day and we wish everyone best of luck in there in the projects today. All right so we also want to thank our Platinum sponsors the Burles welcome fund good night foundation good night educational foundation the North Carolina Science Mathematics and Technology Education Center our gold sponsors RTI Broadcom Foundation Pfizer DLH North Carolina Central University The Triangle University's nuclear laboratory Our silver sponsors the strategic educational alliances and also our bronze sponsors Rowe red hat Smith's in that architecture Cryo therapeutics Bolton and mink. I also want to congratulate all of you All of you here because you did all the hard work you are the very best in your regions both virtual and in-person So I wanted to do my sincere congrats from all the board here and I want to give you all Also want to thank our 170 plus judges that you all will be able to meet today and our 100 plus volunteers who have helped to make this event possible And I'm now a brief word from Governor Roy Cooper. Hi everybody Governor Roy Cooper here It's great to say hello to our state's future scientists engineers medical professionals teachers technicians and so much more Congratulations on your success in the science and engineering fair competition Your hard work and dedication will take you far as you continue to pursue your passions and interests And thanks for your teachers school leaders parents and judges for supporting these outstanding students As you plan for your path ahead It's important to take advantage of all the resources that are available by reaching out to your school counselors Now it is my pleasure to introduce you to our long-time volunteer Fed director and our proud Volunteer that we've had for a very long time Mrs. Judy day So you may or may not have seen me do a double-take when I walked in the door I didn't know my family was going to be here this morning. So this was a surprise to me This is one of the highlights of my year and students. I am so proud of you You do such amazing work and I have you know, I love to hear stories That you know when you come back and say, you know, I did this or I'm there or whatever Every single person every single student that is here today Has achieved a lot. You've wanted a school fair possibly. You've wanted a local fair. You've wanted a regional fair So whether or not you take home an award today You have already accomplished a great deal So you will always be able to say that your project was selected upon Many many projects to participate in the state science and engineering fair And I'm really excited to meet you and to look at your projects. I've spent a little bit of time in the project room I'll be back over there later So hopefully I'll get to see you in person there and then in the award ceremonies later But to begin with I want to talk a little bit about when you're judging So when you're talking to your judges There's some of you that are just very quiet spoken and like this and you can't hear anything All right, so it's going to be loud over there today. We can't do anything about that So students you're going to have to be just as loud So that the judges can hear you you want to look up at the judges You want to smile And you want to be excited about your project If you're not excited about your research and your project Then why do you think the judges would be excited? So you have to share your excitement with the judges when you're talking with them You have to let them know all the things that you've learned all the things that you've accomplished along the way And be sure and you know if you don't understand a question say Can you ask that again? I'm not quite sure what you're asking so that you can answer the Question that the judges are asking and if you don't know the answer But you think you know you can it's always better to say well, I'm not really sure But I think the answer is such and such If you don't have the faintest idea Don't bluff it because if you answer it wrong then they're saying well, they don't really know this stuff And they're trying to pretend they do Instead say, you know, that's something that I really didn't cover in my research But that's an interesting question Okay, and that leaves it so that you're still excited. You're still seeking out knowledge Any but you know, you really don't know that and sometimes there are a few judges that will ask you questions Until all right. This is what the students know, you know, they want to find, you know, how In depth your work has been So they are all excited. We actually had more judges We had some that told us at the last minute they couldn't come our total was like over 190 And all of these people have dedicated their time All these judges to come and talk with you Some of them judged on wednesday for the virtual judging and the rest of them are here today So you need to realize how much it means that they think your research Is so important that they're going to spend their saturday talking to you And I had a message from a judge this week when I was talking to him say I was so pumped when I left. He said I was so excited I really wanted to come back. I'm coming back again this year because I love talking to the students So know that they're here because they want to be here with you And all right, so remember you're going to smile You're going to talk loud You're going to look at the judges and you're going to be excited, right? Let's get a response. All right, so have a wonderful day And we'll be seeing you later in the three different awards ceremonies. There'll be more seating space then And good luck and best wishes to everybody and enjoy the day. Okay. Thank you This is why I have time. Oh, there's two other things. I want to thank all the amazing volunteers this year. I let the Fair note that I was going to be stepping down as the director in june last year and we had Volunteers that have been members of the board that have been active with us that have stepped up and taken on task And helped organize the event today They've done an amazing job And I would like personally to thank all the people that have taken on the task And and made the day happen today and made it successful. It has been so Now there's someone that I met a couple years ago two years ago three years ago, so Ishan bar who is a student at duke But he has been to the international competition that we take our high school students to That is sponsored by our general on international science and engineering fair And he has going to tell you a little bit about that just for a few minutes But he's also going to make an announcement about our first ever t-shirt contest that we had this year Hi all good morning. Thank you Mr. Stay for that fabulous introduction before my remarks I want to begin by recognizing the person responsible for the fabulous t-shirt designs that you all got yesterday and today So, please join me in giving me a warm welcome to kena zeng Kenner's our first ever t-shirt design contest winner So we are very appreciative. We love the shirt design you can imagine the amount of compliments we've gotten this year on it So thank you so much. I also want to thank our student advisory board members ethan sud and abhi german They're not here today, but for organizing this competition and making it happen for very excited and Next year, we'll be definitely be doing it as well Um, so now with that out of the way. Good morning again, everyone. My name is ishan braher It's a pleasure to join you all I join you all not as just a duke student Or a member of the board of the north carolina science fair foundation But also an alumnus of many science fairs just like this Today, I wanted to share with you the journey i embarked Thanks to science fair and the lessons and insights i glean that continue to endure to this day My hope is that some of these reflections and it will underscore the immense value of student research and the science fair experience I started science fair in fifth grade when I wanted to understand how different pot materials affected cooking rates From there I continue to ask questions based on the world around me I worked to understand the impact of blue light on sleep quality or how different natural food compounds could serve as antibacterial Conserve as antibacterials Looking back I realized how now that these projects were just questions that were built off my natural curiosity Built off the back of observations for my day to day Progressing into high school. I found myself engrossed in a multi-year project the topic of that project You guessed it a urinary catheter Only the parents laughed at that joke because none of the kids know what a urinary catheter is So if you don't know what it is ask your ask the adults Uh, I know this also is exactly what you'd expect any any high schooler to be interested in This project just like years past was born out of my own experience when I learned about the issues of catheter associated urinary tract infections After shadowing a physician during my freshman year of high school This illness kills about 13 000 people every year in the united states and after conducting research I realized that a redesign of the catheter could solve the problems that were causing this infection in the first place And hopefully prevent lives lost every year My ambition however was soon met with a logistical challenge I didn't have a research lab that I could access and I didn't have mentorship and guidance in my own community Undaunted however, I pivoted and my home became a makeshift lab My mom hated this to my lab my lab consisted of our garage So she was not that excited about it, but she supported me along the way I used a 3d printer and leveraged the internet essentially to my advantage For the sake of time and focus, I will not be getting into the actual specifics of the catheter If you are interested you can email me or just find me if you do want to talk about urinary catheters, but My sophomore year I brought my redesigned catheter into our local fair earning my way to the state level And then eventually the international science and engineering fair or what we like to call icef The experiences I had at these fairs were nothing short of remarkable I forged invaluable connections engaged with peers across the globe and received feedback from experts at the forefront of medical research I also met many incredible friends many of whom I consider some of my like some of my best friends to this day Motivated by this fair I continued to redefine my or redesign my catheter And was honored with first place in my category at the international science and engineering fair in 2021 The connections. Oh, thank you The connections and guidance from my fair experiences continue to help me to even to this day I recently several judges during the fair encouraged me to patent my device and I'm proud to share that the patent was accepted last year Isef. Oh, thank you Isef and student research opened my mind up to what was out there and enabled me to cultivate skills and confidence To continue to build on my high school experience at duke I now work in a bacterial lab at the jones lab where I work on projects related to medical infections Without the science fair I would have never realized my passion for solving big medical problems in science research So to end I'd like to very quickly impart some lessons on my journey that science fair bestowed upon me Firstly and foremostly, I'm asked of the art of embracing failure The path of science research has won a trial and error just as many of your judges It can often be slow and meticulous But story behind the data often includes numerous pivots and restarts And I encourage you even to share some of those failures with your judges today Secondly, I came to understand that science is woven into the fabric of everyday life Initially, I believe that meaningful research had to be earth shattering akin to noble prize endeavors However, I realized that inspiration for research often comes from our daily experiences to do good research to get out there Just look around you do what makes you happy and I promise science and inspiration will follow wherever you go Finally, I want to impart some thank yous firstly to the parents and educators here today My heartfelt thanks without your unwavering encouragement events like this wouldn't be possible My parents were always the first to celebrate my success And the first to give me a hug when things weren't going well So thank you again for your time and dedication Secondly to everyone who made this fair possible including the organizing team all the volunteers including judges and organizing staff and our sponsors Science fair has given me incredible skills and more than just science public speaking communication skills graphic design You name it science fair has taught it to me without your help and support events like this wouldn't be possible And finally to all the students out there. Good luck. I can't wait to see your research projects Y'all have dedicated hours and hours Onto these projects and I'm so excited that you guys have the opportunity to share them with folks who were just in your position Many years ago. So good luck amazing work And now it's my pleasure to introduce you to this year's co-director Tom Williams for our closing for our closing remarks. Thank you On behalf of the north carolina science fair foundation and the north carolina science engineering fair and our extended family of our local teachers our school districts our 10 regional partners and all Our supporters across the state. It's my pleasure to make a special presentation at this time to our longtime fair director miss judy day Thank you Before I make my remarks I'd first like to thank members of judy's family and friends for being here today Her son david powell his wife eileen mcdonough and his daughter leila powell are here with us Joining david are his sister rebecca powell her husband tony roco and her daughter alex delfabro And finally david and rebecca's aunt and uncle tom and betty jones who have joined us as well Thank you all for being here today We are delighted on behalf of the science fair family to have you here. Thank you judy has been our director for 22 years beginning in 2003 at that time without her Stepping to the plate bringing with her a small group of passionate and dedicated STEM workhorses The ncscs future at the time was uncertain to say the least Since then the state science and engineering fair has grown and in april of 2009 Became the signature program of the newly formed 501c3 organization the north carolina science fair foundation Under judy stewardship the science and engineering fair became the north carolina state affiliate to the international science and engineering fair sponsored by the society for science In 2004 we were allotted two senior projects to compete at isaaf Due to the growth in the numbers of seniors advancing from our 10 regional competitions Isaaf allowed us to increase our projects First to four Then to eight and for the last six or seven years Our current allotment is up to 12 senior projects that will advance to the science and engineering fair in los angeles california Judy to celebrate and recognize your upcoming retirement as our state director on july 1st We have a few things we'd like to do Those of you've been here before We don't normally buy flowers for our podium But we've got an assortment of flowers here today and we want judy and her family To take those with her and enjoy them for the rest of the day If um, there are a few other things we want to do First if anyone has ever earned a north carolina science and engineering first place or exemplary award It's you judy as a keepsake. We'd like to present this first place category award which reads In recognition of outstanding service judy benton day director north carolina science and engineering fair 2003 to 2024 presented on march 23rd 2024 Thank you judy for earning this first place award in addition the science fair foundation board of directors Unbeknownst to judy through private Chats and private google votes and everything else Has established a special Honor in recognition of judy It is the resolution of the north carolina science fair foundation And the establishment of the judy benton day award for outstanding service, and i'm going to share it with you just a minute judy Whereas the north carolina science fair foundation is the proud sponsor of the north carolina science and engineering fair competition Which serves as a state affiliate to the international science and engineering fair And whereas the north carolina science fair foundation is dedicated to promoting and nurturing the scientific curiosity and talents Of elementary middle and high school students throughout north carolina And whereas the north carolina science fair foundation recognizes the need to honor and celebrate individuals and organizations That have demonstrated a sustained and profound commitment to advancing the mission of actively engaging students Engraved three through ten in STEM education and research And whereas judy benton day has exemplified exceptional leadership and service by dedicating 22 years of her life as the state director of the north carolina science and engineering fair Significantly contributing to the success and growth of the north carolina science and engineering fair And whereas it is fitting to establish an award in her honor That will recognize outstanding service to the promotion of student led STEM research Now therefore be it resolved that the north carolina science fair foundation hereby establishes the judy benton day award for outstanding service This award shall be presented annually beginning on march 23rd 2024 during the north carolina science and engineering fair competition The recipient of this award shall be selected through an open and rigorous nomination process Conducted by a committee appointed by the north carolina science fair foundation The science fair foundation shall promote and publicize the judy benton day award for outstanding service To encourage continued support and recognition of STEM education and research initiatives Be it further resolved that this resolution shall take effect immediately Upon its adoption and shall stand as a testament to the enduring commitment of the north carolina science fair foundation To foster and celebrate excellent in STEM education adopted this 23rd day of march 2024 north carolina science fair foundation board of directors Signed by our chairman dr. Gary kelly judy. Thank you and congratulations on this honor I don't usually cry at these things, but you may get me started I just want to thank All the people that i've worked with through the years This is not a one person show it takes so many people doing so many moving parts To make this happen And i've just been blessed to have some amazing people to work with through the years and Tom and gary. Thank you. Yeah for all that you've done There's some other ones back there to recent marines back and in the volunteer room. She's one of those I saw Pamela lovin sending the back if I start naming names I'm going to forget somebody But I just want to thank everyone that there are many people that have been working with me For 10 and 15 years. So again, it's not a one person show. We all work together Students congratulations. I believe in you The sky is the limit for you And you know Keep going if you don't win today just keep going you never know what's going to happen tomorrow Okay, that's learning and Just want to thank everyone especially the people i'm working with my family for being here I hope to see you this afternoon Junie words can never adequately express our gratitude for your outstanding service and the impact It's had on thousands of students across north carolina over these past 22 years and thank you Before we adjourn I just like to quickly Give my special thanks to dr. Kelly director day and ishan for bringing their remarks today Judges and volunteers. We just could not even be here without you As I remind folks it also always begins with teacher leaders Who are willing to take on the added task of engaging their students in stem research Our sponsors today it would be impossible for us to be in this facility and to sponsor our student awards without them And as you've heard already especially from judy and from ishan Students we want this to just be the beginning of your journey and continued research You received a passport stem passport That you're going to have exhibitors that are going to be opened up from 1130 to 230 primary thing on your mind right now I know is judging Please make sure you go by visitor visit those exhibitor booths get them to initial your passport Turn it into the little box that we'll have there and we'll do a drawing at the elementary and as well as the junior and senior division Parents in just a moment The only students are going to leave the room are our elementary students because their judging starts at 1030 We want everyone to stay seated our junior and seniors until our elementary students leave And then they can go over To car michael and the wellness center to get to begin interacting with the judges at 1030 Parents when you go into car michael or into the wellness center that leads to car michael The gates there are going to be closed only students are going to be allowed to the gates So do your final hugs. Goodbyes here at tally or just outside going into the wellness center I said that I would put this back up And if you want to get a picture of the guidebook, we will leave this up and we will do Uh, june elementary awards at 230 right back here junior awards at 330 and senior awards at 430 elementary students Enjoy your day with the judges take judy's advice Make sure you're clear make sure you engage with your judges elementary students are free to dismiss at this time