Academy of Applied Science
SPARKS:2002

Science Research is Trial and Error
by Ryan Haynes, JSHS delegate from Louisiana

One week after starting my sixth grade science project, I let my bean plants die. The next summer, my parents and I tried to find a more interesting topic at the university library, but the pages of clich? projects had absolutely no appeal to me. Hoping to recapture my attention, my engineer father helped me construct an apparatus to test the heat absorbency of different materials while my mother, a science teacher, explained every detail of the scientific method to me. Unfortunately, when my parents arrived with the first test sample, they found me using a stick to gather beads of mercury from the nearby shattered thermometer.

Having little luck with science projects, I never imagined that I would be involved in any scientific research; much less win any awards with it. Seeing no hope in botany or engineering, I resorted to computer science. I had only a vague idea of what I was doing, but nonetheless, I found myself at the International Science Fair in Philadelphia. There I met Cambrian Liu, a fellow computer programmer and veteran of the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in London. I could not believe that someone from Louisiana had actually competed with a science project overseas. His accomplishments inspired me to continue my research. I developed a calculator that could solve, show the steps of, and graph various algebraic equations and tested it on junior high and high school students over a period of two years.

My sophomore year, I submitted my paper to the Louisiana Regional JSHS just to see what would happen. To my surprise, I was selected as a speaker. I had observed the year before, but I was not prepared at all for what the symposium had to offer. For instance, since there were so few students and so many categories, I was able to talk to people my age who were involved in various fields of science. Needless to say, I was in awe of everyone. I didn't think I had much of a chance, especially since my friend Cambrian and I were in the same category, yet everyone seemed to be really excited about my research. I was thrilled just to get into the top eight, but when I received third place and a trip to National, I was ecstatic.

In April, I arrived at National and set out to find ideas for my next project. I had my doubts about continuing my research in computer software for education, but my outlook soon changed. I expected to be rooming with the delegates from my own state, but the symposium placed me with students from all over the nation. Being shy, I was somewhat uneasy, but once I realized that we all had common interests, I made friends quickly. If the symposium had not split up the delegations, I would have probably missed out on meeting so many amazing people. Moreover, the symposium allowed me to talk with many professionals about ways I could incorporate their work into possible future research. My favorite speaker was Dr. Robert Rines, the president of the Academy of Applied Science, who discussed his Global School District, a project that allows students to connect all over the world. Dr. Rines has accomplished quite an incredible amount during his life and is an excellent role model for our nation's future scientists and engineers.

His work with the Academy's Global School District has inspired me to continue working on educational software.
JSHS lets students know that there are other people out there like them working as hard or harder to complete their goals and in the long run improve our society. Few people realize the difficulties of scientific research from dead bean plants and broken thermometers to error-filled software algorithms. Although the demand for innovation is increasing, few are willing to put in the time and effort that go into a worthwhile endeavor. The symposium fosters the growth of ingenuity in students and provides a forum for them to discuss ideas with both professionals and people of their own age. It ranks as one of the top ten most influential experiences in my lifetime, and hopefully it will serve as the same for many more students. Dr. Rines puts it best, "JSHS fuels the spark of genius."

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