History and science fair questioned as a benefit for students

Everyone’s favorite time of the year is back. No, not Christmas.

I’m talking about history fair and science fair. It’s time to start the rigorous projects that we seem to do year after year, writing hypotheses, determining variables, creating bibliographies and slogging through a variety of other chores. Through it all you will undoubtedly find yourself wondering, “Is this really benefiting me in any way?”

Well, let us look at the benefits. If you make an extraordinary project, you have a high chance of going to the state competition, which in turn would give you a boost for your colleges applications. In going to states you would be meeting others your age who share your interests.

History fair and science fair also give you a chance to thoroughly research an interesting subject that could possibly be useful in college studies.

Furthermore (and my personal favorite), you could win scholarships. Up to four million dollars in scholarship money and awards are handed out every year at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, and one million dollars go to the semifinalists and finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search.

Now to the cons. Most history fair and science fair projects are done outside of class, putting a huge burden on students by giving them two huge projects on top of their regular course load. Although working on these projects in groups would help to alleviate some of the work load, some teachers do not allow it. Then of course, you always have someone in the group that does all the work while the others do nothing.

“I think groups are a great way to do history fair, but groups of three or more people are no good, because not everyone does the same amount of work,” US history teacher Mrs. Bingham said. She went on to say that she thinks history fair is a “great way to learn how to do research.”

Science fair and history fair are what you make of them, because like it or not, you have to do it, and from my experience, I would say they are ultimately beneficial. If you put in the hard work and dedication to make it a good project you will be rewarded tremendously.