The International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is an extracurricular activity that more than 200 students in the West Linn-Wilsonville school district participate in. Participants start their projects in the Fall and continue working on them until Spring when they present to judges.

According to the ISEF Guidebook, ISEF projects require a lot of work and involve “Conducting an investigation or creating an invention that you are passionate about.”

Participants must do intensive research on their topic, conduct experiments, design solutions to problems, and finalize their findings in a well-formulated, presentation format. 

ISEF’s workload is manageable, but it can be tricky for students with busy schedules to make room for lab time and meetings with ISEF coordinators. 

“You gotta learn how to balance everything,” said Gabby Maoz, a Junior working on her third ISEF project.

Many students would agree that the hours of research and experiments are worth it. Participation in the science fair is appealing to colleges, and the best projects are awarded prizes such as scholarships and a chance to compete on a larger scale.

Elise Smith, who is participating in ISEF for the first time this year, said she was, “…Excited but nervous.”

Students participating in ISEF presented their projects to West Linn High School judges on March 11. As the day was highly anticipated, Maoz said she was “Excited to get it over with,” as it had been building up over the course of a couple of months. 

Wilsonville emerged from the experience with many representatives advancing to the next phase of ISEF, which is to an international stage, competing with over 1,500 students from across 80 countries.

Surely, this won’t be something to miss. Wilsonville looks forward to rooting on Aasha Patel and Megan Whitt, along with celebrating Annika Martin in her accomplishments and every student who participated this season.