Two Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center high school students at opposite ends of their tenure are wrapping up a successful year of science fair competitions, though they didn’t go quite as designed.

Senior Hailey Kintz was named a finalist for the second consecutive year to attend the International Science and Engineering Fair and freshman Justin Reinhart was named an observer to attend the event in Anaheim, California, though it unfortunately was cancelled due to COVID-19. The competition that qualified the students was the Western Iowa Science & Engineering Fair, which also had to be cancelled, and the students submitted video presentations.

Though her senior year didn’t go as expected, Kintz shares a highlight from working on her biodegradable hay bale wrap project, “Unfortunately, I kind of had a rough year for science fair this year with all of the closings, but I did get to participate in a national fair in Seattle in February where I presented my research. And it was kind of like international’s where I went to Phoenix last year but it was just a very large meeting. I got to sit with Bill Gates and watch him talk, and I presented my research and that was really great.”

Reinhart created a prosthetic heart valve for his project, and despite event cancellations, he looks forward to what future projects he can create, “It was pretty exciting being named the observer. I did not think I was going to get it so I was pretty happy when that came out and I feel like that’s opened a lot of opportunities for future science fairs.”

Besides winning first place in the physical category at the regional fair, Kintz was also the first recipient of the Clay and Mary Groff – Women in Science Award, which was especially meaningful as the award is named after her science teacher Alexa Groff’s parents. She also received first place in the engineering category for the State Science & Technology Fair of Iowa, and has advanced to round two of the competition for which the awards ceremony is scheduled for April 23rd. You can watch Kintz and Reinhart’s virtual presentations online.