Thomas County Central High School students took the top two spots in their virtual ABAC Regional Science Fair division.

The event occurred Sunday, Feb. 15. Sophomore Bishop Jackson won first place while freshman Veronica VanLandingham earned second place, both for the high school division.

“Placing in the regional science fair was a big and delightful surprise for me,” VanLandingham, 15, said. “I have never gotten past the school level when it comes to science fair, so to have a project go this far is both a delight and a surprise.”

VanLandingham’s project, “Paper in Flight,” focuses on aerodynamics, which helps planes fly farther and more fuel-efficiently. Her project tested five types of thrown paper airplanes to see how far they would travel.

“The farther they went, the more aerodynamic they were,” she said. “My hand was the fuel, the hallway was the sky, and the paper airplanes were, well, the airplanes. I was looking for something that wouldn't cost much, wouldn't take all that long to do, and had some real-world value to it. Testing paper airplanes filled all three.... It's like testing planes on a miniature scale! The paper airplane designed the closest to real-world airplanes went the farthest, almost double the distance of its second-place winner, showing just how aerodynamic real-world planes are already. With one throw of the hand, the plane was not only able to keep itself stable in the air but was also able to fly an average of 5.5 meters, or 18 feet!”

Jackson, 16, is ecstatic to win first place at region two years in a row.

“It is an honor that the judges continue to see the life-saving impact my project can have in the future,” he said.

Jackson continued his project from last year to design an application that could diagnose melanomas. Its name is “Skin Scanner: Diagnosing Melanoma with an Android App.” The app uses artificial intelligence to diagnose this type of skin cancer from benign skin moles.

“According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma has a 99 percent survivability rate when caught early,” Jackson said. “However, if the cancer is allowed to spread, the survivability rate plummets. The goal of my project is to make sure that all melanomas are detected early, preventing nearly all death from the cancer. There is already a current method to diagnose melanoma, but it is both time-consuming and expensive. The current method does not work quickly enough for those with a fear of the doctor or who do not have health insurance.”

Thomas County Schools K-12 Science Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Scott Sweeting helped judge these and other projects in the school-level fair in January.

“You could tell that each of these students truly enjoyed engaging in the work of their project,” he said. “They were really interested and invested in what they were doing, which in turn made the judging process more enjoyable. The students displayed their ability to engage in the science and engineering practices that reflect what scientists do every day.”

VanLandingham believes creating her tri-fold board digitally this year helped her project stand out.

“I think what held me back was the tri-fold board,” she said. “I was never good at designing the board, and it always came out like a mess.... Doing the tri-fold board digitally is what I think helped me make it to regional science fair.”

Jackson thinks his project’s potential real-world impact stood out to the region judges.

“While many science fair projects have a limited sphere of influence, early diagnosis of melanoma touches everyone in some way,” he said. “Early melanoma diagnosis can potentially [save] the life of a family member or friend.”

Jackson and VanLandingham advance to the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair. Held by the University of Georgia, it too will be done virtually this year in April.

VanLandingham admits the idea of competing at the state level is a little scary. Still, she’s up for the challenge, especially since she gets to submit a video presentation instead of speaking in-person.

“For me, that is a relief,” she said. “I get extreme stage fright easily and would completely freeze trying to explain my project to judges in person.”

Jackson expressed disappointment that the state science fair had to be virtual this year but said he’s ready for competition.

“I will make sure my submission is perfect by adding more data to my display and rehearsing my submission video,” he said. “Since the video is limited to three minutes, I need to rehearse the most pertinent information to fit in as much detail as possible.”

Sweeting said everyone is proud of these students’ accomplishments, especially considering this year’s additional obstacles.

“This is also a great testament to all of the hard work their teachers put forth in working with these students to make sure they had all of the support they needed to be successful,” he said.