MONTE VISTA —Monte Vista High School science students are featured in the National Geographic documentary — “Science Fair: The Series” — that was released on Nat Geo on Dec. 10 and Disney Plus on Dec. 11. The series is an offshoot of the critically acclaimed National Geographic movie “Science Fair” that was released in 2018.
The three-part documentary that features Monte Vista students began filming in 2021. It follows the students on their science fair journey from region to state, and their climb to compete in the biggest science fair in the world, the International Science and Engineering Fair, also known as ISEF.
MVHS Science Teacher Loree Harvey said she was contacted by National Geographic casting director Whiteny Adams in early August of 2021.
“She said, ‘Hey you know we're going to be doing this new series,’ she's like have you seen ‘Science Fair,’ the movie. I'm like, ‘Oh, yes, definitely.’ I kind of gushed about it because it's a great film, that National Geographic produced in 2018. We actually showed it at Vali 3,” Harvey said.
Adams told Harvey, they were looking at doing a six-part series instead of a movie and were considering Monte Vista because of its “track record” with ISEF.
“I'm like wow that's incredible,” Harvey said. “We can see the ISEF records, and kids from Monta Vista come up quite a bit. In my mind, there's a lot of amazing schools across the country, so to know that we got on their radar, I am like wow.”
Adams asked to interview some of the kids via Zoom.
“At that time, the kids were doing their summer thing, but I was able to get ahold of like five or six that I knew would be participating because some kids, sometimes don't do it every year. I got the kids on Zoom and Whitney just loved them. She stated to me that we were just awesome, and she asked if she could send her crew down, and would we be willing to be part of the series, once she got the green light from other schools. I said absolutely.”
Harvey was excited to be featuring the students and the program, but also to be spotlighting the Valley.
“You know in my mind I'm thinking not only about showcasing our kids and our program, which we're very proud of but, also the Valley, like we have so many great kids here the San Luis Valley,” she said. “It is such an amazing place to live, and we have a really great science fair, with schools that are really dedicated. That was the beginning, super exciting and we said yes.”
Twelve students — Urianna Acosta, Marissa Martinez, Maria Sears, Angelina Vargas, Carlos Ochoa, Gus Miller, Jack Noonan, Grace Goodland, Claire Seger, Joseph Benavides, and Chloe Hindes — were part of the filming process for the series along with Harvey.
Valley Publishing contacted all students for comment on the documentary. Not everyone chose to be interviewed for this story.
Acosta is in college working on a degree in cellular molecular biology at Adams State University. She was a senior when the series was being filmed. She said that in the beginning she was nervous. They filmed her while she was creating a science project that developed a robotic arm to assist physically challenged people. She is excited about the series and hopes that people who watch it will see that people who are physically challenged are also capable of great things.
Martinez, who was selected as a finalist in ISEF, and is currently attending college at Colorado State University studying biological sciences, said that being a part of the series was a surreal experience. She said her favorite part was sharing such a special time in her life with her friends. Martinez was working on a project that would help save the endangered bird, the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. Martinez hopes that younger students who watch the series will be inspired to explore science.
Seger is currently a junior at Monte Vista High School, and she is also attending Adams State University. Seger attended ISEF and when she was being filmed was working on a project where she statistically analyzed students’ GPAs before and after COVID, regarding ethnicity, age, and family income level. Her favorite part was having a once-in-a-lifetime experience being documented. Seger hopes that when people watch, they will gain insight into how competitive science really is, and the dedication that it takes.
Miller is currently a senior at Monte Vista High School. The project he was working on was how to develop a more accessible mouse, by using 3-D printing and coding programs. He made it to state with his project. His favorite part was having the film crew film in such a small town and being able to see the talent in a small-town school. He is hoping that people will watch and see that you don’t have to come from a big town to do big things.
Ochoa is currently a college freshman on a full-ride scholarship studying botany at the University of Hawaii. During the filming, Ochoa was a junior working on a project that dealt with freezing temperatures, drought, and over warming, using a fungus that helps plants. Ochoa wanted to look at how the fungus could help different types of plants, during the three climate change scenarios. Ochoa hopes people will see that research on plants is important.
Noonan is currently a senior at Monte Vista High School. The project he was working on at the time was on a water filtration system that would help draw heavy metals out of water. He was excited about the series coming out but was a little nervous during filming. He hopes people will watch and be inspired to try something new and see how they can use science to solve a problem.
Sears is currently a junior at Monte Vista High School and a student at Adams State University. As a freshman, her project was on phobias and PTSD, and how to see if meditation could help with these. She said her favorite part was working with her friend Seger as she could trade ideas back and forth with her. Sears is hoping that people who watch will see how much work goes into a science fair project.
The students thanked their parents, families, friends, the crew from National Geographic and especially Harvey for the chance to be a part of this.
Harvey hopes people will watch and then understand how smart and talented these students are coming from such a small town.
“I am truly proud of how much dedication and time these kids spent working on these projects and how great they held it together for this series,” Harvey said. “None of this was easy, from the interviewing, the projects, the filming, these students are hardworking and dedicated. Science is this huge field, and it takes a lot of dedication and hard work. I look forward to seeing where all of this goes for these students. I am very proud of their hard work and effort in all of this.”
