W. I. S. E.  2001

 

Wonders of the Imagination Science Exhibition

 

Awards Ceremony

 

Welcome to W.I.S.E. 2001, the first annual Wonders of the Imagination Science Exhibition.  My name is Bill Werner, and I’m here today because of a comment made by Michelle Blackburn, a home-schooling mom.  At an after-school community education class I was teaching, she casually mentioned that she wished there were a science fair for home-schooled students.  So, with help from a lot of people, here we are.

 

There are many people who have provided generous support in this endeavor, and I have tried to list them all in the science fair program.  But I would like to mention a few now.  Besides Michelle Blackburn, Myra Carter has also provided continuing assistance.  A group of judges worked diligently today to rate all the projects and select the winning exhibits.  Many mothers have provided us with the refreshments that will be available after this awards ceremony.  Several companies and other organizations have provided prizes for the award winners, namely, Scientific American magazine, the Toledo Alexis Road Target Store, the Toledo Zoo, COSI Toledo, and Dana Corporation. Terry Taylor of the Silk Screen Shop provided commemorative T-shirts at a reduced charge.  Betsy Hood arranged for winning students to showcase their exhibits at COSI Toledo.  But most important are the students who showed interest and effort in entering the science fair and their parents, who encouraged them and worked with them.  Without these students and parents, there would be no W.I.S.E. 2001

 

What about W.I.S.E. 2002?  With your help, it will be bigger and better than this year’s science fair.  But we need your help.  If you haven’t already done so, we ask that all visiting families, as well as all families of our exhibitors, complete an evaluation and planning form to help us plan next year’s science fair.  The forms are available at the table near the hall entrance.

 

Before I present the awards, I am pleased to introduce Kim Small, Director of the Southeast Michigan Regional Fair, who will give us her observations on the part
parents play in the development of science as a career choice.  Kim.

 

Kim’s talk

 

Thank you, Kim.  Now is the time to present awards.  A listing of award winners is available at the table near the hall entrance.   Winners receive a ribbon, an award certificate, and a  prize certificate with which to purchase prizes of their choice.  The awards are valued as follows:

W.I.S.E. Award – 50 points

Branch of Science Award – 40 points

Grade Level First place – 30 points

Grade Level Second Place – 20 points

Grade Level Third Place – 10 points

 

The prize certificates can be used to purchase prizes from three categories:

1. On-site prizes,

2. Magazine subscriptions, and

3. Items from the Schoolmasters Science catalog.

 

Each point on the prize certificate is generally worth $1.00 or more when the student purchases on-site prizes.  Each point is worth fifty cents when the student purchases magazine subscriptions and/or science supplies from the Schoolmasters Science catalog.

 

I will recognize award winners in the following sequence: W.I.S.E. award; then branch of science awards, in the following order—Biology, Earth Science, Physics, and Chemistry; and then the first place, second place, and third place winners beginning with the upper grade levels.  The reason that the upper grade levels get to choose their prizes first is that students in lower grades will later have the same opportunity as they progress through the grades.

 

I encourage award winners to send a note of thanks to the company or other organization that contributed their prize.  I will notify the media about award winners for students whose parents complete the authorization form provided.

 

As I call upon each student, please come up on the stage using the enclosed stairs on your right side.  After receiving your award envelope, you may, if you wish, talk to the audience for about a minute about your science fair project.  If you want to purchase an on-site prize, you may purchase one prize from all the remaining prizes.  You may purchase only one prize at this time in order to give other winners the opportunity of greater selection.  After selecting your prize, give it and your prize certificate to the cashier, who will record your prize on your entry form and deduct the cost in points from your prize certificate.  After she returns your prize certificate to you, please leave the stage by the enclosed stairs on the left.

 

If parents wish to help their younger children make their prize selection, they may do so.  Parents are also welcome to come on the stage for photographs.  Since the exhibitors put a lot of work into their projects, I encourage the audience to applaud them individually immediately after they receive their award envelope.

 

After the awards ceremony, we will sell remaining on-site prizes to award winners who wish to purchase them, using part or all of the remaining value on their prize certificates.  The prizes will be sold one at a time in the same order as the award envelopes were presented.

 

Present awards.

 

Refreshments are now available for your enjoyment.  During this time, I will be announcing the name of each winning student to come up to the stage in turn to purchase any of the remaining on-site prizes.