ALAMOSA — Part of the mission statement of the San Luis Valley Regional Science Fair is to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, mathematics, or engineering. During a morning visit to the fair, this reporter met many of the bright, curious, and analytical young minds from throughout the Valley presenting at the annual event.

At the event held on the campus of Adams State University on March 1, all the students interviewed expressed an inquisitiveness and appetite to further their studies in science or engineering. Mission accomplished for the science fair in fostering the next generation of scientists.

Fair Director Lucy Adams said, "This is our 75th anniversary and the fair was started by Adams State University professors and community leaders 75 years ago. Consequently, we are one of the oldest science fairs in the country and the oldest science fair in Colorado."

Adams said there were 12 school districts from the region participating with about 246 students registered. Students from fourth grade through high school attended the science fair.

During the morning, Adams said the judges were busy reviewing the projects and they would be making their decisions later in the day for awards. Some of those chosen would then go to the Colorado State Fair at CSU in Fort Collins next month, or the International Science Fair in Los Angeles in May.

One of the judges was Gregg Goodland from the U.S. Forest Service who said, "This is my fourth year judging and I find this to be an amazing science fair, they do such a great job."

Goodland said, “The Rio Grande National Forest very much likes to support our community, we serve with the dignity and the intent that we are meant to."

Timothy Culler, a sixth-grade student from Sanford had this hypothesis about his presentation, 'Counting the Starts Underneath the Moon,' "I predicted you can see the most stars during a new moon. This is because there is no moonlight. This allows more starlight to be seen." He added this was his second time attending the science fair and, "I'm thinking about doing this through high school."

Joslyn Mix, a seventh-grade student at Ortega Middle School in Alamosa was interested in ascertaining the greater density between polished versus unpolished metamorphic rocks. In her conclusion, she determined that polished rocks had a density of 0.03933333, which is greater than unpolished rock. She added, "I hope I can eventually get more rocks to polish so I can find the density of those. Metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous. I would like to see what would happen to a geode if you polish it and see what happens when it is broken and what happens to the crystals."

Emilio Martinez an 11th-grade student spoke to the Valley Courier about his science presentation, Falling Avionic Light Landing: Analysis of Control Surfaces upon Atmospheric Re-entry. Part of the rationale of the project is, "Due to the emergence of revolutionary technology in the field of space flight and aerospace, the opportunity of space exploration and discovery has never been more feasible." Martinez studied several rocket designs that would be suitable for commercial use.

In choosing one of three rockets he designed he said this about his preferred rocket, “In my conclusion, I found that this was a very effective design. This rocket which was better in design for commercial use and suited for commercial travel."

After interviewing Martinez, he added with excitement that it had been the first time he was interviewed by a journalist. He plans on majoring in engineering at Regis University in Denver.