Local student places third at international science fair with microplastics study

At the Aberdeen School District 06-1 board meeting on May 26, a high school student who tested the effects of microplastics on sea urchin embryos described placing third at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix and winning a $1,200 award.

Charles Hermanson, an AP Chemistry teacher who introduced the student, said the placement was rare for South Dakota competitors. "It's extraordinarily rare for anyone from South Dakota to place at the International Science Fair," Hermanson said, noting the student was one of the top two individual projects in her category and earned travel to Phoenix.

The student (identified in the meeting only as the student presenter) told the board she tested how different concentrations of microplastics affected fertilized sea urchin embryos over 72 hours. "In the presence of microplastics, there was next to none survival rates, and growth rates had decreased," the student said, summarizing her experimental findings.

Board members asked about contest logistics and scientific scope; the student said she competed in the Earth and Environmental category, which had about 60 entrants, and that the international fair drew roughly 1,700 participants from about 60 countries. She described a pre-visit online submission (a short clip and a quad chart), followed by an in-person poster and multiple judge interviews at the fair.

The student told the board she plans to attend Utah Tech University in St. George next year to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with a longer-term goal of returning to school to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.

Board members congratulated the student and Hermanson before moving on to other business.