Harper Tyng
Harper Tyng, an eighth-grader at Dunn Middle School, placed fourth in April in the Junior Cognitive Science Division of the California Science and Engineering Fair 2022.
She’s now preparing for the 2022 Broadcom Masters, billed as “The Nation’s Premier Middle School STEM Competition,” in June.
And Harper was one of nine Dunn Middle School students to win awards in March in the Santa Barbara County Science and Engineering Fair.
Dunn Middle School STEM teacher Meg West said she has never seen so many students participate and win awards. She has overseen Dunn’s science fair participation for 10 years.
“We have had other gold and silver winners in the past, but to have a sweep like this, I was blown away,” Ms. West said in a news release.
In the county contest, Tyng and Sophia Elliot won gold and silver, respectively, in Cognitive and Social Sciences. The category of Molecular Biology, Chemistry and Microbiology was swept by Dunn students Gracie Pitts (gold), Robert Wilcox (silver), Ava Loper-Benson (bronze) and Margaret Watson (bronze).
Gretchen Grenier won silver in Environmental Sciences, Devyn Hazard won silver in Mechanical and Earth Sciences . Kayla Shomes won bronze in Botany and Zoology.
Harper’s science fair project focused on the phenomenon of test anxiety.
“Test anxiety has become a really big problem among students, just anxiety in general over school,” she said. “Tests are massive, and so if you are personally really worried about your grade, it can cause you a lot of fear.”
When it comes to Dunn’s success at science fair such as the county competition, Harper and other students are feeling the thrill of a great accomplishment.
“A lot of people are really excited about it,” Harper said. “They go, ‘Wow, I would never have thought to do the county science fair, but that’s really cool. I want to do that next year.’
“I think there’s a pretty strong sense of pride at the middle school.”
email: dmason@newspress.com
