ORANGE, CA — February 4, 2015 — Four months of hard work by McPherson Magnet School’s 6th through 8th grade students finally paid off when the fruits of their labor were showcased at McPherson’s annual science fair.

This year, McPherson’s science fair competition focused on communication skills - each student’s ability to convey project ideas and discoveries - in alignment with newly adopted state standards.

Projects were judged by community members who are actively engaged in science and work for companies such as NASA, Broadcom, Beckman, Disney, and Chapman University. A scoring rubric developed by local scientists, in conjunction with McPherson team members, was used to rank each project.

Twenty of the highest-scored projects will move on to the 2015 Orange County Science and Engineering Fair (OCSEF) to be held at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center in April. Last year, four McPherson students advanced from the Orange County competition to the state level.

When asked how McPherson has been able to run such a successful science program, Principal Joey Erven replied, “Our answer is simple: The commitment of our staff to our Magnet Focus on Science, K-8. McPherson’s goal is to get all students involved in science inquiry.”

Some of this year’s best projects will be shown at McPherson’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Night on March 26.

The McPherson Team would like to thank Kayee Conrad and Shannon Duncan for putting together this year’s science fair.

Orange Unified is one of only two public school districts that participates in the county-wide science fair, along with private schools.