Lake County students from 5th to 12th grade will be participating inthe 2000 Calumet RegionalScience Fair and Associated Art Exhibit on March 10, 11and 12th at Indiana University Northwestin the new Academic Activities Buildinggymnasium. This is the first year IU Northwest will serve as host to thefair.

The 43rd annual regional science fair, which will be open to the publicfrom 1 to 5:30 p.m. on March 11, is divided into four divisions that includeFifth Grade, Sixth Grade, Junior Division (7th and 8th grade), and SeniorDivision (10th, 11th, and 12th grade). Students in 9th grade may chooseto compete in either the junior or senior division. Students competingin the Senior Division are eligible to compete in the International ScienceFair scheduled for May in Detroit, Michigan. 

Competition categories include biochemistry, botany, chemistry, computerscience, earth and space sciences, engineering, environmental science,gerontology, mathematics, medicine and health, microbiology, physics, andzoology. Judging will be by faculty and staff from IU Northwest, as wellas other schools in the area. 

“These are the best of the best,” says LindaWozniewski, IU Northwest departmentof chemistry, explaining that regional fair participants are winnersof school and district local science fairs. “Students that participatein science fairs do real research where they choose a question, do literatureresearch and duplicate it to show validity, and then report on the results. This is reinforcing the scientific process that is so important to in furtheringman's knowledge and the human condition.”

The Student Associated Art exhibit will be in GalleryNorthwest, in TamarackHall. The juried art fair will include competition in categories ofpastels, watercolors, charcoal and ink, oil, sculpture and jewelry, andcomputer.

An award ceremony for science fair and art exhibit winners will be at2 p.m. on March 12 in Theatre Northwest. Deadline for entries ofboth competitions is March 6. More information on the Calumet RegionalScience Fair is with Wozniewskiat 219-980-6637. More information on the Student Associated Art Exhibitis with Ann Fritz,director of IU Northwest art galleries at 219-980-6891.