Only a few more days until the ISEF Fair. Participants are finalizing their projects, making little tweaks here and there. After working on a project for so long, you become accustomed to it and may not see the flaws that a fresh pair of eyes would. Wilsonville High School hosted is Mock Symposium, where participants from Wilsonville and West-Linn presented their projects to faculty and other volunteers. By doing so, they were able to receive some feedback on their projects that would help them to come up with ideas of improvement before the symposium. It also allows first-time students to get a feel for the environment and how things work. Rodayna Abdelhalim, Junior; and Dana Zaidan, senior, are both students at Wilsonville High School who attended the symposium.

    Dana has participated in ISEF in the past, so she has an idea of how this works. However everyone has expectation or an idea of how things will go. “I’ve gone to the mock symposium for the past three years. So i am really accustomed to its environment. I  am just ready to showcase all of the hard work that I have put into my project for the past few months. I know that i am the expert of my project so I am not nervous to present in any way,” says Dana. On the other hand, this is Rodayan’s first year participating in ISEF. “I expect it to be very nerve-racking and scary but it will also prepare me for the actual presentation. I also hope that it will help me improve my project and poster.”

    in order to prepare for this day, Dana says, “I have prepared all of the required material for the mock symposium including my background, research question, graphs, any pictures I need to show.” Rodayna answers, “I worked on my poster pieces over the weekend. Also a lot of research!”

    At the end of a day of being judged, Rodayna and Dana has a somethings to say about their experience. “It helped us come up with a very useful hook. It also helped us figure out an organization for the way we want to present information. It also helped with the fluidity of our presentation, also helped my partner and I have smoother transitions between us,” says Rodayna. Dana says, “This day helps me practice for the judging that I am going to have at the districts competition. Since I know most of the teachers, I am not as nervous to present my project and I know that the way I present doesn’t have a serious first impression on the judges, so I feel more comfortable making any mistakes and figuring out what I need to improve.”

    Mark March 3 in your calendars to see these participants and many others and their amazing projects