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Success: EDUCATION: 16 American Indian Students Advance to a National Science and Engineering Fair.

Posted on: Saturday, 11 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Steve Kuchera, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

Feb. 11--Nearly 60 American Indian students gathered at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College on Friday to showcase their science expertise.

The students, ranging from grades 5 through 12, had advanced from their home schools to attend the college's second American Indian Science Fair. By fair's end, judges had selected 16 to attend the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair March 23-25 in Albuquerque, N.M.

"It's really exciting to see all these students involved in science," Fond du Lac college biology instructor and fair judge Jay Sandal said. "As a nation we need to encourage science. This is a great way to do it."

Teresa Gomez, deputy director with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, would agree. The society began the national science fair 18 years ago as a way to help attract Indians to science and engineering fields.

"Less than 1 percent of American Indians are receiving advanced degrees in science and engineering," she said. "As far as the work force is concerned, we comprise much less than 1 percent of the professionals in science and engineering."

According to the 2000 census, American Indians and Alaska Natives make up1 percent of the nation's population.

"The science fair is a great opportunity to showcase the scientific research American Indian students are pursuing and also to encourage them to continue thinking about science and research," Gomez said.

Several local students who have attended the national fair were at Friday's event.

Aurelia DeNasha, a 10th grader at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, attended the national fair twice. Last year she was one of eight Indian high school students who advanced to the international science fair.

"She has set a standard for all the other students," Fond du Lac Ojibwe School science

teacher Leslie Hoffman said.

DeNasha raised that standard Friday, winning a third trip to the national fair.

"You can't exactly lose enthusiasm for going to nationals ... and a bunch of my friends are getting to go, too," DeNasha said. "Nationals is an amazing experience. You get to see all there is to do in science."

DeNasha, who would like to become a biologist, qualified with an examination of various aspects of the relationships between muskrats and wild rice.

With the poise and articulation of an experienced researcher, she described the project's evolution from an examination of muskrats and nutrient cycles to the rats' choice of plants in building their lodges to how the mammal's activities can affect fish.

"Each year I branch out to another aspect," she said. "This year I decided to branch out to lake fish. I plan on continuing this project all through high school."

DeNasha was one of 57 students from Fond du Lac Ojibwe, Cloquet middle and high schools, and Cotton and Greenway schools attending Friday's fair. Judges selected 16 to attend the national fair and another 10 to display their projects at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Cori Sullivan attended the national fair two years ago, taking third in her division with a project that examined the germination rates of corn in untreated soil, in soil treated with commercial fertilizers and soil treated with dead fish -- a method Indians used for generations.

"I was so proud of myself," Sullivan said Friday. "I was in seventh grade and that was my first science project ever."

Sullivan, who is interested in a job in forensics, won her second trip to the national science fair Friday with a project determining the best way to preserve footprints in sand and dirt using household products.

"This is a good experience," she said. "I think all kids should get into science fairs."

STEVE KUCHERA can be reached at (218) 279-5503, toll free at (800) 456-8282, or by e-mail atskuchera@duluthnews.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

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Source: Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)

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