Local Students Are Honored For Their Work At Annual Science Fair
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A science fair opened to Philadelphia school students held it's annual award ceremony for the 38th year.
Students in 7th to 12 grades in public, parochial, charter and those home schooled in Philadelphia county packed into the auditorium at the Academy of Natural Sciences to hear the winners of the The George Washington Carver Science Fair.
Among first place recipients 13-year-old Estelle Guillot of the Meredith School in Queen Village, where her project explored the effects of hand cleaning on bacteria. She found that plain water worked better than the two soaps she tested.
"It worked a lot better than I would have expected it eliminated 76% of the bacteria where both soaps eliminated 70% and under," she said.
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Organizers say the fair encourages urban youth to pursue academic achievement and careers in science. An awards ceremony was held for 4th to 6th graders earlier in the month.
Janice Mininberg Committee member of the George Washington Carver Science Fair said, "Between the lower and upper grades it's 860 kids who were involved in this, and we are so glad that KYW is focusing on the kids who are out there working for science working for the possibilities that they can be contributing to their community."
A special George Washington Carver award is given each year to a professional who has the same intense dedication, and creative genius exhibited by Dr. Carver.
This year's recipient Frederic Bertley President and CEO of Center of Science and Industry said, "The fact that I received that award I'm really thrilled because one of the things in my career that I try to do is, make science accessible for everybody regardless of race, gender , ethnicity or bias from the womb to the tomb to really appreciate science."
