PARTNERS FOR PROGRESS DONATES $11,000 TO SCIENCE FAIR
Three-County Event Set for March 12-17 at Community College

       
    Partners for Progress (PfP), a group of more than two dozen top executives of key businesses in St. Charles County, has donated $11,000 in support of this year’s St. Charles-Warren-Lincoln County Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

    PfP, whose goal is to develop and support projects and programs aimed at making St. Charles County a nationally renowned “most livable” county, is sponsoring the fair, which is scheduled for March 12-17 in the College Center at St. Charles Community College (SCC).

    The Regional Science Fair, now in its 17th year, is a collaborative effort among the participating school districts in St. Charles, Warren, and Lincoln counties, the science department at the community college, and Partners for Progress. Last year, more than 750 science projects from some 130 public and private K-12 schools were entered in the fair.

    Warren County schools joined the fair planning group for the first time this year, broadening the event to include even more student projects. Home schooled students also participate. Also new this year, Lindenwood University is offering $5,000 scholarships to three high school seniors with winning projects. The renewable Lindenwood scholarships are geared to fair winners who plan to pursue degrees as science teachers.

    “We are pleased to welcome Warren County schools as well as Lindenwood University to this vital and exciting event,” said Zoe Fitzgerald, professor of science at St. Charles Community College and director of the fair. “We are especially grateful to Partners for Progress for the funding support that makes the Science Fair possible. The Partners share our goal of creating learning opportunities for today’s young people and advancing the study of math, science, engineering, and technology.”

       “Education is one of the key pillars for Partners for Progress.  One of our key initiatives is getting kids interested and excited about math and science,” said Randy Schilling, president and CEO of Quilogy and former chair of Partners for Progress. “We are always looking for new and innovative ways to work with education to develop tomorrow’s workforce.  A homegrown workforce is more likely to stay in the region and thus improve the area’s quality of life.”

    Lindenwood University’s new president, Jim Evans, also voiced support for the growing science and engineering event: “We want to provide incentive for talented young people to demonstrate their promise and inventiveness.  We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in the Regional Science Fair,” Evans said of the $5,000 scholarships the university is offering to several winners.

    The Science Fair event is planned and operated each year by a regional science fair advisory committee consisting of teachers and administrators from the various school districts, the community college, and representatives of a consortium of private schools. The entries are judged by teachers and by other degreed technical professionals from the participating schools and from Lindenwood University, St. Charles Community College, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis as well as by regional businesses such as Monsanto and Pfeizer.

    The public is invited to view the Science Fair projects from 4-9 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, March 13-15, in the College Center on the SCC Campus, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville. There is no admission fee. There will be an awards ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 17, in the theater of the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building on campus.

    The winners from individual school fairs advance to the regional fair at the community college. Those who place in the international division (open to high school students only) will compete at the 57th annual International Science and Engineering Fair set for May 13-19, 2007, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

    “The regional fair is the product of many local communities and schools with the solid support of the Partners for Progress as well as the outstanding cooperation of our local science teachers, students, and their parents,” said Michael Banks, vice president for academic affairs at SCC. “It is gratifying and exciting to see it grow each year to include more of our local area schools.”

    For more information on the science fair, call Audrey Gose at 636-922-8351 or go to the St. Charles-Lincoln- Warren County Regional Science and Engineering Fair Web site: http://www.stchas.edu/sciencefair/.

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