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EL CENTRO — Students and their families were excited to show off their hard work at the 2026 Imperial County Science Fair.
Held in the IV Fairgrounds’ Casa de Mañana building, the Imperial County Office of Education was proud to present 117 students from seven different schools’ science projects on Thursday, Jan. 15.
Awards were given for junior and senior divisions, and students competed for first through third place in 16 categories. These included chemistry, animal sciences, medicine and health sciences, computer science and engineering.
There was also a Best Overall Division award given to the top-scoring project, with the junior Best Overall Division award split between three separate projects.
The projects were judged same-day in a closed session. The panel was made up of representatives from the Imperial Irrigation District, ICOE, University of California Farm Smart and Controlled Thermal Resources.
The judges looked at all sorts of projects ranging from AI experiments to renewable energy and homemade water filters.
According to Eileen Verdugo, ICOE Student events manager, the students started working on their projects back in August. “The teachers worked endlessly with the students to create these projects … It’s something for the students across Imperial County that is beneficial; it helps them in terms of college and career readiness,” Verdugo said.
The Science Fair
Before the ceremony, friends, family and the public were free to roam around the room and look at the many displays spread out amongst the tables.
“I’m very happy that my daughter decided to participate,” one parent said. “She and her friend worked on it for months. It was fun watching their project evolve, and they had fun working together and trying something new.”
“My son now knows all about the Scientific Method,” another parent stated. “We made sure to go over all of the steps when I was helping him.”
Arlyn Valdez and Natalia Huerta from Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy were eager to talk about their project called Study vs. Screen. “Our project’s about finding out which is a better form of studying — reading a book or watching a screen. We got our results by testing with AI.”
The Awards Ceremony
Dr. Todd Finnell, Imperial County superintendent of schools, and Verdugo were the main hosts of the evening.
“We’re here today to celebrate curiosity, creativity and the power of ideas,” Finnell said, addressing the rows of students and their families in the audience. “Science is about asking questions and solving problems … Students have amazed us with projects that tackle real-world problems and answer questions that we didn’t know existed.”
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Finnell went on to thank the families and teachers for their help in guiding their students’ work and curiosity and proclaimed. “(These) students are the leaders of tomorrow,” he said.
Students proceeded to come up one by one to receive their awards, standing tall and smiling proudly for the crowd. Loud cheers and applause could be heard from the crowd every time a name was announced.
The junior Best Overall Division Award ended in a three-way tie.
The recipients of the award were Sophia Ateek and Carolina Fuentes from St. Mary’s School for their “Real vs AI Challenge” project, Fernanda Zuno from Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy for her “How Much Does Glucose Level Change After a Person Eats a Meal?” project, and Olivia Lavoie from St. Mary’s School, who was not present for the ceremony.
The recipients of the senior Best Overall Division Award were Solei Cuevas and Arielle Bonano for their “Recreational Vehicle Impact on Phrynosoma Macalli Populations: A Statistical Assessment” project.
At the end of the ceremony, Finnell shared warm sentiments about the fair. “It’s a wonderful event, and all of our student events are wonderful in my opinion because they are opportunities for our kids to find their passions. So, for students that are interested in the sciences, engineering and math, this is a wonderful event for them to choose a topic that’s of interest to them and actually do a deep-dive into understanding.”
