Nine Cotter junior high students presented projects at this year’s Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair. Nick Walechka, Justin Franz, Emily Tullis, Sam Wantock, Aidan Carlson, Elliana Hutmacher, Lauren Whyte, Mary Morgan and Jon Weltzien all represented Cotter.

Justin Franz and Mary Morgan were awarded  special honors at the fair for their work.

Cotter science teacher Tammy Drazkowski has seen the number of participants increase since she started running the science fair activities at Cotter. “I am always proud of the students that make it to state,” said Drazkowski. “They work hard and have proven that they have good projects that they know a lot about.”

Drazkowski encourages this year’s 6th and 7th graders to consider taking on the project next year.  “Not only do the students get to see some really incredible and cool projects, they get to stay in a nice hotel, eat good food, hang out with friends, swim and have fun for 3 days.”

That is all, of course, in addition to learning how to apply science principles in constructing a project.