Orange, CA – March 25, 2019 – Orange Unified is proud to announce that McPherson Magnet School had several students advance to the state science fair competition from the county level competition (OCSEF).

Led by 2016 OCSEF Teacher of the Year Kayee Conrad and Shannon Duncan, McPherson students’ projects placed in the following areas at the county competition and many will move on to the state competition:

• Martin Ok (6^th grade) - 1^st in Fluids/Aerodynamics - Will move on to the State Competition
• Sean Halperin/Mia Henry (6^th grade) - 3^rd in Behavioral Sciences
• Darina Dang (7^th grade) - 2^nd in Physical Product Science - Will move on to the State Competition.
• Anthony Perez (7^th grade) - 2^nd in Chemistry - Will move on to the State Competition.
• Danna Coria (7^th grade) – 2^nd in Behavior Science - Will move on to the State Competition.
• Jolette Hernandez/Alexis Tran (7^th grade) – Special Award: Beckman/Chapman Award and American Association of Clinical Chemistry
• Laurel Manion (8^th grade) – 2^nd in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology - Will move on to the State Competition.
• Aubrey Valdez/Juliet Allred (8^th grade) – 3^rd Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Jonathan Tabb (8^th grade) – 1^st in Pharmacology & Toxicology - Will move on to the State Competition. Also received the Sweepstakes Award and Nat Lam Memorial Award.

Jonathan Tabb’s Sweepstakes Award marks the first for McPherson Magnet. The Sweepstakes Award is given to the highest scoring project overall (out of the 2,000 entries). By winning this award, Jonathan had the best project in the entire County of Orange.

The students going on to the state competition will present their projects at the California Science Center in Exposition Park on April 29-30 in Los Angeles.

The projects that want to the county level were initially judged at McPherson’s science fair in February. The McPherson science fair competition focused on communication skills - each student’s ability to convey project ideas and discoveries. Projects were judged at McPherson by community members who are actively engaged in science and work for companies such as NASA, Broadcom, Beckman, Disney, and Chapman University.