Students top state meet; 6 to attend international fair

By Rhonda Bodfield

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.27.2009

Tucson High Magnet School is at the top of its science game.

The school won top high school in the state this week at the second annual Arizona Science and Engineering Fair.

Tucson High students entered 11 projects in the fair and won eight first-place and three second-place awards.

The award comes after last week's strong performance at the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair, in which three students won high enough honors to earn a spot at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nev., next month.

Science teacher Margaret Wilch also was named Teacher of the Year.

Combined with the state fair awards, that means the school will send six students to the international competition.

Phillip Huebner, the director of the state fair, said his judges were impressed at the quality of Tucson High's work among the 200 high school projects they analyzed.

It's especially impressive given that the school doesn't have an "excelling" label, he said, although it is a "highly performing" school under the state's measurement system. "That in itself says something about the school, that while it's not an excelling school, it's doing excelling work. When students do things like this, it's more indicative of what a school is doing than a test score is."

Principal Abel Morado credited Wilch with the wins. "She's dedicated and committed and walks them through the research. The kids are learning in-depth and it shows because when they go to competition, they're formidable. We're real proud of those kids."

Wilch, who has been teaching in the school's research program since 1995, said a key to the program has been linking with University of Arizona researchers, who served as mentors and provided volunteer opportunities for students.

Students in her class, which covers honors research methods, choose their own research question and must enter the science fair as a course requirement.

Wilch, who has a master's degree in biology, doesn't have the expertise to help students who are researching everything from physics to health projects.

She just cold-called scientists, she said, and found "they were incredibly willing to help. If they couldn't help personally, they would tell me who could."

This is the strongest showing the school has had to date, she said. "In many ways, they're just typical, goofy teenagers, but they really know how to focus and they take their work very seriously."

Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 806-7754 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com.