Danielle: WVHS’s science queen

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Danielle Grenier Schroeder coordinates the West-Linn Wilsonville (WLWV) school district’s branch of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), and is the director of the regional fair, the CREST-Jane Goodall Science Symposium. To simplify, she runs the WLWV district’s science fair involvement. 

She attended Linfield University for her undergraduate degree in environmental science, leading to a study focused on the microbiomes in vineyards in her final year. Between that and coming to ISEF, she worked several jobs – counting grapes, supporting a volunteer office, and waitressing at the Fat Cafe to name a few. 

In her college years, interned at the Center for Research in Environmental Science and Technology (CREST) in summer 2013. Then, in 2016, she got a call from them telling her there was a position open for a fair coordinator. She had never done anything like this before but quickly fell in love with it.

“After a couple interviews, I realized this would be the most creative and fulfilling job ever,” she wrote.

She was happy to move to discuss the ISEF program itself once she had filled in her background. “The science fair is a place where a student from any background can explore virtually any topic they are passionate about” Schroeder shared, “ We conduct projects on art, water quality, economics, robotics, literature, computer science, biology, you name it!”

She shared some of her favorite projects, ranging from one finding that a food that smells like waffles reduced Alzheimer’s in fruit flies to a project on oragami beehives.

“My absolute favorite part of my job is that all day long I get to discuss dozens of niche topics with people who really care about them,” she wrote.

“This is a place for people who act and investigate; people who want to answer questions solve problems,” she summarized. 

For more information on the ISEF program click here or email Danielle at [email protected]