Mission Accomplished! OK State Science Fair Eliminated (1 Donor Keeps It Alive Thru 2018)
One Oklahoman might not be able to wrest the state from the throes of a continuing budget crisis, but a lone donor can stave off elimination for one year of an education program that is important to him and many others.
Retired dentist James Young of Ardmore cut a check Thursday for $50,000 — the same day the 72-year-old learned that funding for the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair would vanish in 2018. The six regional and one statewide science and engineering fairs were among the casualties of the elimination of $40 million in state support for public school activities.
Young, who was a science teacher “many years ago” in the Cleveland public school system northwest of Tulsa, told the Tulsa World on Friday that he understands how much the fairs mean to kids. Some students aren’t involved in sports, music or art, but science or engineering is where their talents or passions lie, he said. His eldest daughter earned a trip to Puerto Rico in the late 1980s for an international science fair, and he saw how much that experience meant to her.
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A trio of Cascia Hall students formed a group called Oklahoma Students Advocating for Statewide Science, or OSASS, last year. Minna Apostolova, a junior; Braden Milford, a sophomore; and Erika Ravitch, a junior, are in search of a way to financially support the fair system so students can continue to inspire and compete with one another. “This is really one of the only ways that students can get involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) on their own terms here in Oklahoma,” said Apostolova, who has participated in the fair for three years. Milford expressed amazement that a donor had been found for the coming year. The three students are involved in independent scientific research projects, he said, so OSASS is a priority for them.
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http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/education/state-science-fair-to-go-extinct-in-oklahoma-not-in/article_6eb96374-6ef9-56ac-84db-216af12e0db7.html
