01x01 - The Games Begin

[bunniefuu]

Here we are at

the Regeneron ISEF Grand Award Ceremony.

You have persevered with your studies

and research.

And shown tremendous grit

in the face of insurmountable odds.

Ladies and gentlemen,

honored guests and finalists

the time has come.

30 million students.

78 countries.

Eight million dollars in cash and prizes.

Top prize is 75,000 dollars.

Second prize, 50,000 dollars.

Straight cash.

I want to win something.

I don't wanna pay for college.

If someone thinks

that high school science fairs

are just about volcanoes

they've never been to a science fair.

The International Science

and Engineering Fair

is the biggest high school science fair

in the world.

It is high school students

doing real research

that will change the world.

-My project is on global warming.

-Human ovarian cancer cells.

Hurricane formation.

You have literally the best

from each country all here at ISEF.

It's like the Olympics of science fair.

Brazil's in the house!

This series follows students

from around the world

as they compete for a spot

at the mother of all science fairs.

Going to ISEF,

it's been my dream since I was little.

If we win the spot to ISEF,

we're going to Atlanta

- We're going to Atlanta.

- and we are partying.

Is it about

the science or the partying?

- Both.

- Both. Why not?

One win will change

their lives forever.

If you win ISEF,

it's kind of like winning

the Nobel Prize as a kid.

And the winner

Kids and parents of

the Jericho School District have spoken,

and so have their

academic achievements.

Earning Jericho the top spot,

number one in the nation,

in the Niche

Best School District Annual Rankings.

Welcome back.

So, there's a couple of things

that we just need to go over,

and hopefully,

you listened, and you prepared,

and didn't waste the summer

because for these next few months,

you're going to feel tortured.

I know that almost

all of you would love to win ISEF,

but it's not gonna be easy.

Real talk.

If I can't push you to be excellent,

I can't expect you to win.

And I expect you to win.

A Long Island teacher

is in the spotlight

after producing science superstars

for ten years and counting.

Word about

the school district

has spread around the world,

and it's experienced a huge surge

recently in international students.

When I came to Jericho,

a big reason of why we moved here

is because we knew

about the research program.

I'm pretty sure

it's 'cause of the research program.

Dr. McCalla for sure.

Dr. McCalla and the Jericho Science

Research Program.

I've been at Jericho for 14 years.

And when I got here,

we just began winning.

We won literally every competition

that is out there for science,

research high school students.

We have state-of-the-art equipment.

We have a biosafety cabinet.

We have incubators.

A lot that you find

in university settings.

But I do not feel that those resources

are the only reason why we're successful.

We're successful because we have

a relentless pursuit of excellence here.

Jericho is doing graduate student research

that will change the world.

And we do plan on trying to win,

so get ready.

The road to the International

Science and Engineering Fair

begins at local science fairs.

At the regional level,

top-place finishers can earn

one of a limited number

of spots directly to ISEF.

I would probably cry

if I got a bid to ISEF.

We absolutely have to place.

We'd love to move on.

Students who make it

to the State Science Fair

have one final shot to qualify for ISEF.

But at that level,

the competition is even more intense.

A lot of them think they have no chance.

And that's one of the neatest things,

is seeing the look on their face when they

realize they're actually going to ISEF.

No more talking.

Take the sleeves as you need the sleeves.

I need you to work. Focus, Miss Kim.

Not every student can go to ISEF.

You gotta be absolutely the best.

We only have three months

before local fairs.

So, when it comes to us

practicing and preparing,

I'm a little bit relentless.

I'm gonna go in order of receipt.

Right now, I have Leo, then Kevin,

then Ethan, then Samay,

then Andrew, then Emily.

Prior to joining

the science research program,

I heard a lot of rumors that people said

Dr. McCalla is very strict.

Is this your best version, Leo?

Like, I made everything

Do I have the final version

in my email?

- No.

- Get out.

Well Okay.

I know, like, she means well.

She produces winners.

- Next, Kevin.

- What's up?

- Is this the best version?

- Yes.

Kevin works very hard,

and he's very smart.

He is the most confident of the students

I currently am working with.

Can we move this over

just a tad so I can make this one line?

-Can I?

-No.

-Okay.

-Just tell me.

-Just highlight it all and pull it over.

-Click.

He believes in himself,

and his work is phenomenal

and can change how we look at cancers.

Each student chooses

their own project.

They'll spend the next five months

researching and refining it

in hopes of making it to ISEF.

We foster their passion.

It's always something

that they're interested in.

If they don't love it,

I don't want to do it.

If I'm writing contractions here,

should I just write Micros

My project focuses on identifying

genetic causes of cancer.

Particularly, I'm looking at sequences

in DNA that repeat

and I've been characterizing

and identifying them

in 10 different cancer types.

It's a phenomenal project,

but it's so complicated.

And you can't make it to ISEF

if you can't sell it well.

We know all the science.

The rest of it

is just selling it to the judge.

I need an aspirin.

I need a nap, and I have a headache.

All right, I'm done.

La la la la la la, la la la la la la la

La la la la la la ♪

We are at Dominican Convent Harare.

This is my school.

It's the oldest school in the country,

and it's all girls.

This is the chemistry lab.

So, everyone gets one of these tubs

to work with whenever they're working

on the experiments,

and it was really cool.

It's really cool carrying this.

I I feels like you're so in charge

carrying one of these to your desk.

That microscope made me sure

I wanted to do sciences my whole life.

It was so cool. It still is!

And there's a really cool storeroom there,

I don't know if it's open,

but with all the chemicals.

This just makes me so excited.

You have no idea.

My other school was way smaller than this.

I hadn't been exposed

to this much variety.

So, when I got here, I was

I guess you can say starstruck

by the chemicals.

This is just too cool really.

So, Balloon A is air,

and Balloon B is water.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

I am Knowledge Chikundi, the founder

and director of the Zimbabwe Science Fair.

So, see, water, water is magic.

When I grew up,

we didn't have a science fair

in the country.

We still have a long way to go,

but we now have young scientists

in Zimbabwe,

and we want to bring them to ISEF

to compete with others.

Even if they don't make it to ISEF,

doing science,

they'll grow up with a scientific mind,

and that's one of the best way

to build a great future

for our country and the world.

There are practical differences

between students from my country

and students from other countries.

The resources

that we're exposed to are different.

Electricity, water supply.

So, most of the projects that

the Zimbabwean delegation sends

are very personal.

For me, it was the fuel crisis

that was going on in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing

fuel shortages.

Long, winding queues

are visible at most fuel stations

while most are completely empty.

I'd been at a fuel queue

with my mother for six hours.

It was a brutal, brutal experience.

And I was now looking at our

fuel sources here in Zimbabwe,

and I discovered that we blend our fuel

with imported fuels.

And so, our fuel that we make is ethanol,

and we get that from sugarcane.

So, the first time I came here,

I ran straight for a reed plant,

thinking it was sugar cane.

And my aunt was like, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not sugar cane. That's a reed.

And it was crazy because the reed

looked just like the sugar cane.

So, I started thinking,

can't we use them

for ethanol production as well?

And these reeds are just everywhere

versus the sugar cane.

So, I looked at these reeds,

and I tested them for sucrose,

which is essential for ethanol production.

And I found that the reed extract

contained a higher concentration.

So, there was sucrose present

in the reed extract.

And that meant these reeds

could be used to generate ethanol

just like the sugar cane.

So, I'm trying to work on a safer fuel

and a cheaper fuel for Zimbabwe.

But it's not yet finished.

There's so many things I need to go over.

I need to explore.

We have a long way to go

before my project is ready

to present at the fair.

Now I was born to be just what I am ♪

A fast drivin' man ♪

Well, I'm a smooth ridin' ♪

A no slidin', a fast drivin' man ♪

I'm definitely a little bit

of an outcast, I would say.

But I want to change the world

with new technology.

I wanna advance

the technologies that we have.

This is my drift trike that I made.

I took a water pump motor,

and I put it on this whole frame I made

with some trailer tires,

and I attached it to a bicycle.

It goes about 45,

50 miles an hour.

I can do burnouts

and donuts and different tricks on it.

With Einstein's

Theory of Relativity, time is relative.

Meaning that faster moving objects

can travel through time faster

than everything else.

So, I started to think

of maybe how you could do that.

For my science fair project

Uh no, currently I'm not building

a time machine. My dad has a DeLorean.

That would

that would be interesting.

Maybe in the future.

Back to the Future.

For my science fair project,

I made a new design of electric motor

for use in electric cars.

The whole reason for adopting electric

vehicles and electric cars

is because we're trying

to be more sustainable.

But the problem

is that many of these technologies,

they use rare earth materials

like neodymium and dysprosium.

These are very expensive elements.

They're very bad

for the environment to mine.

Not only does my design

not have rare earth materials,

but it's also very high-performing.

One coil down, 95 to go.

And so, looking at a bigger picture,

we can be much more sustainable

and preserve how we live indefinitely.

My dad does AC repair.

He's a general contractor,

so he knows a thing or two

about building things.

I'd bring him old air conditioning.

Oh, when Robert

was probably six years old,

-he was out there helping me.

-Oh, yeah.

These are different pieces

that I got

from old air conditioning motors.

Ow! Oh, that hurt.

Ever since I was little,

I've always been building bigger

and better machines over the years.

Early on, like even pre-K,

he was always coming up

with ideas to build things.

This was a new design

of wheel that I made.

Um, I was probably, like,

maybe seven or eight at the time.

A lot of kids get toys

for Christmas,

and they wait for their dad

to put it together.

He always knew

how to put it together himself.

I've wanted to be an engineer

pretty much since I knew

what an engineer was.

And I came across an article where

a team of MIT students made this robot.

It's like a four-legged,

like a cheetah kind of robot.

That's a lot of the reason why

I started doing science fairs

because that's where I want to go.

I want to I want to do stuff like that.

Winning a competition like ISEF,

I think that would be hugely beneficial

for applying to MIT, of course.

And, you know, to be able to do that

I think would be it would be the dream.

While students like Robert

are gearing up

for regional and state-level fairs.

In Jericho, the kids must first survive

an internal tryout.

You're gonna be fine.

You guys are, like, so smart.

In order to qualify for ISEF,

you have to win first place

at your regional or state fair.

But at Jericho,

we're super-duper competitive,

so not only do we have to worry about,

like, the regional and state level

in order to get to ISEF,

we have like an in-school round, too,

to get a spot

to even compete at Regionals or State.

So, we have to compete amongst ourselves.

I'm obviously nervous.

The last few days have been, like, a lot.

I was up 'til, like, 2:30 working on this,

which is why

she said I looked kind of dead.

I never feel 100 percent ever.

I'm so scared,

but we're just gonna see what happens.

There's only 10 spots,

and I think 14 people presented,

so I think four people are gonna get cut.

I hope that's not me.

It might be.

Today is our regional

and statewide tryouts

for the International Science

and Engineering Fair.

The stakes are high only

because we have a limited number of spots.

There's pressure.

Guys, they have seven minute to present.

I told them that.

We have such a tight schedule,

but I really rather you guys

- get the questions.

- All right.

I have teachers come in

and help me judge.

So, at the end of today,

we'll know the 10 students

who are selected to participate.

All right, we gotta move.

Let the games begin.

- You ready? Let's go.

- Can I say no?

I'm the only sophomore

in my class,

and everyone else is juniors.

Today, I will be discussing the use

of tectonics in climate and reconstructing

the modeling of the Western United States.

I created a computerized diagnostic system

for cardiac arrhythmias.

You have so many of these people

trying to compete for a spot,

and they're so smart.

Like, you have Samay,

who's crazy smart with computers.

Today, I'll be talking about applying

spatial-temporal attention to identify

distracted and drowsy driving

with vision transformers.

There are two main methods,

and first method is you start

with the embedded patches,

which is essentially a matrix,

and then you pass it on to normalization

and then to multi-head attention.

I don't want to compete with them,

but it is what it is.

Welcome to Jericho.

When I first came to Jericho

in elementary school,

my English was really bad.

My family's Thai.

We predominantly speak Thai.

I remember all of the teasing,

and I used to get called a lot

of derogatory things.

They're like, "She doesn't seem smart,"

and that's why I was so stressed.

I was like,

I need to prove myself to people.

That group of people

made me develop a fear,

like, a really big fear of failure.

Like, I was so scared to fail

'cause I was so scared

I was going to be mocked for it.

- Natasha.

- Yes.

Let's go, lovey.

- Good luck.

- Hi.

Good afternoon.

My name is Natasha Kulviwat,

and today, I'm here to discuss

my passion

for adolescent suicide research.

I lost my close friend to suicide,

and this is one of the many reasons

that has motivated me

to conduct research in this field.

There's not a lot of

research done on teenage suicide,

and I think that that kind of shocked her.

And with that, I think she started saying,

"Okay, how can I now

ask a question

that's gonna benefit people?"

Her project's on the second leading cause

of why adolescents die.

So right now, there's no current benchmark

or criteria for release

after attempting suicide.

That's when suicide attempts,

suicide ideation is at its highest.

So, we need to predict whether or not

the individual should be released.

My project is an app

to assess suicide ideations.

My work, I hope,

that it has some sort of contributions

to society in the future.

Even if I don't win anything, I know it's

gonna be worth it because I know,

like, this research is really good.

Studies finding identify the self-signal

task as an objective marker

that is effective,

non-invasive,

has a low-cost implementation

as well as a practical application

and can accurately determine

short-term suicide ideation. Thank you.

She's phenomenal.

Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that.

Um Sorry.

I did it! I didn't say one "um."

- How was it?

- Oh, my God.

It was really good.

Oh, my God!

Like that moment that I went in there,

I've been dreaming of that since

I was nine years old. I'm not even joking.

I know my face is really a good read.

Like, I

-I don't know.

-I know. I know.

-I have no poker face.

-Well, I can't see your face.

Yeah, I don't know

how a kid gets that good at that age.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Kevin Zhu,

and today, I will be presenting

my findings on the extent

of recurrent repeat contractions

across 10 human cancer types.

Kevin Kevin is Kevin.

Any test you give him,

he'll score 100 on.

He'll find a way to score 101 somehow.

That's the type of person he is.

Literature has previously identified

that replication errors are responsible

for two-thirds of all mutations

in human cancers.

But the problem is that these contractions

lack any sort of exploration

or examination in cancer

because of inter-tumor heterogeneities.

This leads into scenarios

where we have a normally

repetitive sequence,

undergo a deletion or contraction.

Around 80% of

those candidate contractions

Evaluate the distribution

of contractions across the genome.

We want to look at the distributions

that we might have.

First, associating

those contraction load signs

Followed a bi-modal distribution

Energetic regions,

the exons, the introns

Located closer

to those cis-regulatory elements

correlated with these, uh, contractions.

It plays a crucial part

in the actual detection

for both targeted diagnostics

and therapeutics.

It could set the stage for a set,

a wave of new cancer medicines

to hopefully one day,

uh, lead our way to a cure for cancer.

Thank you.

Okay, um

It was very different, Kevin.

- Yeah. I

- Yeah, I had a hard time

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

The problem was

there's so much content with this.

I wanted to make it

as clear as possible for you guys.

But I'm sorry about that.

Um

I think that I went too much left

and right, and not on the main points,

and because of that,

I don't think that the teachers

actually understood

what the main points of my project were.

- Why did he panic like that?

- I'm done.

Like, changed it

at the last minute.

He he emailed me at like 11:30.

"I'm sorry for reaching out so late,

but can I change, like, my presentation?

It was only one thing."

No!

And I said, "One thing? Sure."

- Right.

- That was the whole

-presentation. Like

-Yeah!

- what do you want me to do?

- That's Kevin.

He has been stressed about this.

I kind of realized that

there were a lot of stuff

that I didn't need to put in

or there were a lot of stuff

that I thought could be left out,

so that my story could be more coherent.

Um. And so, I did a few changes to it.

You just have to own it,

and I tried my best to. But, yeah.

My parents immigrated to the U.S.

and they sacrificed a lot for me

to be able to have the education,

have the resources,

have the community around me.

And honestly, I don't have

much excuse to not do well.

We have 17 8.66. He's 9.66. He's 8.66.

We only have ten spots,

and all of the projects are really good.

I know that if I mess this up,

I mess up the whole rest of the year.

Like, this dictates

whether or not we go to ISEF.

I stress out the rest of the night.

I'll eventually write their names

on the list,

and I'll post it on the window,

and by the morning,

they'll know if they have a spot.

Nice. I made it. Let's go.

-Yeah, she's not in the Oh!

-No, it's like

It's nice to get into something.

All right. That's a that's a relief.

I bombed my physics test for this.

It's my name. Right there.

Yeah, it's really good.

I'm gonna take a picture.

All right, I have to send it

to my parents.

So, I'm the last one. Lottery.

I think he does work hard.

I think he's smart.

He doesn't have a bad project.

He just can't sell it.

Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

Ooh, ay ♪

Drelli, riddle me that ♪

I ain't got time to play

or just sit and relax ♪

They gonna try to throw shots

but I'm turnt to the max ♪

I've been swimming competitively

since I was six.

Swimming has always been a safe place.

I didn't have a lot of friends,

so swimming was a place where

I could kick off the wall really hard

and swim as hard

as I possibly could without, like,

taking my rage out on somebody.

Run the town ♪

They can't believe it ♪

But mine, mine, mine

ain't backing down ♪

And then, like,

one day I was talking about,

like, swimming and we got on the topic

of Olympics,

and I found a bunch of controversies

surrounding the uniforms

that men and women were wearing,

and how women were being treated

differently than men with smaller uniforms

than men were wearing.

And then I was, like,

"Wait." My dad has this rule in the house,

"See a problem. Fix a problem."

I decided to see if I could mathematically

test the opinion that female athletes

were wearing less clothing

than their male counterparts.

I traced out the uniform with software

and turned all of my uniforms

into data sets, and then I compared

that data with each other

using statistical analysis.

I found out that women were wearing

20 to 60 percent less clothing than men.

I want to change social norms

using science,

and I realized that science fair

was a perfect way

to put that frustration into action.

Okay, once you guys set

So now we can get Olivia. Olivia?

- What?

- Come on.

But I'm doing my homework.

Every family has their own thing.

You know, they always have that, like,

"Oh, we're, like, dog people."

Okay.

We're science people.

As you get tired

and the judging day goes on,

you actually need to get more and more

enthusiastic because the judge

is also a human being,

and they will get tired as well.

- So, you need to, like, really amp it up.

- Really?

Andy's gone to ISEF once,

and my sister Clara went

to ISEF three years.

First place

in Biomedical Engineering, Clara Wagner.

When a judge walks by, just, like,

nod at them, smile, say hello.

Treat them like a real human being.

- Olivia

- Olivia

- Sorry.

- Really? Come on.

I'm just burping again.

I'm sorry.

What is it with the burping?

I don't know. I don't

I've been really like,

gassy with my burping lately,

and I don't know why.

She's been here

three times.

Why don't you listen

to what she has to say?

You don't have to do

what I recommend.

You can do whatever you want.

You're your own person.

Olivia!

Stop!

That whole record is insane

and crazy,

and I don't know if I'll ever do it.

I mean, I could. That'd be kind of cool.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we are competitive.

What do you think? We're the Wagners.

How I tested this project

was using a protocol that I designed

which included

a Wilcoxon signed-rank analysis test.

Um And that was part of

This needs to be practiced.

You know it all.

Get it back in your brain

and re-present it to me.

And then have it smooth like chocolate.

Like, sweet. Okay?

With regional and state fairs

right around the corner,

these young scientists must make sure

their projects are in top shape

if they want

to keep their ISEF dreams alive.

I'm trying to see which one has the most

sap at the moment.

I feel a lot of pressure for ISEF.

I want to pave the way

for many young Zimbabwean scientists

to come up,

especially young Zimbabwean girls.

Electric motors

are very complicated machines.

I made the first version.

It didn't really work out that well.

Kept making new versions,

trying to improve it.

By the 13th motor, I thought,

"Okay, this one has to work.

I have fixed everything

that could possibly go wrong."

I wired it up, and it melted.

It's probably like 50 to 60-ish pages.

Like, what does all my data look like?

What do we know about the data set?

There's usually a list of kids who are

going to these in-person competitions.

So, I go one by one, and I stalk

the children in my category

to learn more

about their project's limitations.

So, I'm a psychopath.

But it's okay.

As I said,

50% the science, 50% the sell.

So, part of your job is to make sure

that they see your enthusiasm,

your respect of the science,

and your love of it. Sell that.

You got 15 minutes to impress them.

You got to impress them

from beginning to end, or you can't win.

'Cause there's other kids out

there doing it. Trust and believe.

There are kids out there

that are impressive,

that probably should not beat you

because you're smart, and you know it.

So, practice tonight

until you get it right.

Good morning, Jericho High School.

Good luck to Dr. McCalla

and the science research students.

Okay, everybody is responsible

for making sure their board is in the box.

Does everybody have their forms?

- Natasha?

- Yeah.

- Natalia?

- Yeah?

- Samay?

- Yup.

Okay, we're good.

- One!

- Two!

- Three!

- Four!

Kevin is not going

to the New York State Fair.

He did not make it past round one.

The sell of my project

was not amazing.

All the data was there, but I didn't know

how to communicate it properly.

All I have to do now is to improve.

The Zimbabwe Science Fair

is the only fair in the country

where you can qualify for ISEF.

171 projects compete

for just eight ISEF spots.

I wouldn't say I'm competitive,

but if it's something

like the ISEF journey,

if it's something that has to open doors,

if it's something

that has to change something,

then I will pour out everything

on that definitely.

Good morning, finalists.

We're wishing that you all

have a very good day.

It's gonna be a long day.

Good luck, everyone.

All the projects at states

are very high level.

I feel good about my presentation,

but the competition is,

like, really steep.

Some of the projects here

are just amazing.

My goal here is to present my research,

show the amount of work

I put into the project.

Then, you know, of course,

I always aim to win,

so that would be nice.

- Olivia, you are A, so 8:30.

- So, 8:30 I have to be in there?

Yup.

Get your brain in the right place.

My sister is obviously

this big role model for me,

but it's also a little scary going

into science fair with her

and her big, like, career and everything.

- I have dyslexia, and I also have ADHD.

- And, um Sorry.

I never really thought I would be

as good as my sister or, like,

anyone in my family.

So, I hope that somehow, I can show

that I can do as well as she can

or that I'm just as good as she is.

Whoo.

When Jericho walks in,

it's like, "Oh, God, Jericho's here."

They're afraid of us. But New York State

is extremely competitive.

I don't think anything is guaranteed.

I just told this kid to go

and practice in front of his board.

So, why is he here right now?

I don't know. I really don't know.

'Cause y'all want me to wild out.

This is my last chance.

Like, if I don't get it,

that's it for me this year.

I can't let it end here.

I want to go to ISEF.

I feel like I put in the work,

and I put in the hours

to actually get into ISEF.

If I don't make it,

I feel like that's kinda lame.

The stakes are high.

If you don't want to lose, then don't.

Be alert for the judges

approaching you and your project.

When they come to you, please stand up.

Each contestant

has a timed presentation to the judges,

who later meet to tally scores

and decide who moves on to ISEF

and who is out of the competition.

The reason why I used these particular

types of rotors, the 45-degree rotor,

I didn't really have any,

like, computer optimization to get it.

Typically, you get about two

or three judges.

Most of them are kind of quiet

in the beginning.

You know, they're just listening

to what you have to say.

But, you know, you can't help

but think about what kind of questions

they're going to ask you.

- I'm with Jericho.

- Oh, great.

- Yeah, what's your background?

- My background? Uh

I'm worried that the judges

that judge me won't know my fields.

So, essentially, the way the basic

building block of attention works

is you have the query vector,

the key vector, and the value vector.

In the introduction,

that's the most important part

where they have to understand things.

If I, like, go super technical

and they don't understand anything,

that's a bad thing because

they won't understand the rest of it.

Have you ever seen

a project regarding suicide?

- No.

- Yeah.

I I always get that a lot.

These are markers that contribute

to executive function deficit,

which is one inherent way

of actually measuring suicide risk.

- Oh, okay.

- Yes.

- Continue, I'm sorry.

- No, no, no, I really love the questions.

No, please don't apologize. So

For me, this is, like,

probably the worst day.

I'm most, like,

nervous I've been of any competition.

I never thought that I would

even get the chance to go to ISEF.

If I went to ISEF,

it just proves that I'm good at it.

Yeah, the reed plants

get considered a nuisance.

But no one really looked into how their

structure is so similar to sugar cane,

which is what we use.

I am nervous. Having a chance at ISEF,

it happens once in a blue moon,

so I can't waste this opportunity.

You can have

a phenomenal project

and not make it to ISEF

because of how your delivery is.

So, I think it's good science,

good motivation, present your butt off.

If they beat you,

they probably should have.

Today, we are going to be

awarding our finalists.

Today, we are going to be awarding those

that are outstanding.

Welcome to the

67th State Science and Engineering Fair

of Florida Grand Awards ceremony.

The purpose of this event is to recognize

the scientific talent

of these fabulous finalists.

The winners at this fair

today get an all-expense paid trip

to the ISEF International Fair.

We have four winners

of the fair this year.

It's been a long day,

so thank you for bearing with us

as we went through all our scores.

With that said,

I'm going to read the Grand Awards.

In order to go to ISEF,

you have to achieve first place

in your category.

I will now read

the second-place winners.

From Somers High School, Charlotte Potter.

Congratulations.

These kids, they worked so hard this year.

So, there's a mindset that you should win

and that you should make it to ISEF.

And unfortunately,

they're not all gonna win, if any.

And that's a reality.

Our last second-place winner.

From Jericho High School

-Samay Lakhani.

-Are you kidding me?

Congratulations.

It's kind of tough,

I'm gonna be honest.

I have to go through

this entire process again on the chance

that I do make it ISEF next year,

and nothing is guaranteed.

That's it.

Yeah.

You guys excited?

Our first ISEF finalist

I didn't get second.

I either didn't place or I got

Sorry. Okay.

From Jericho High School,

Behavioral Sciences, Natasha Kulviwat.

Oh, my God! I made ISEF!

I put my blood, sweat, tears,

my whole life into this!

It's really, like, dramatic,

but it's true.

We are preparing

for the ultimate award,

the gold medals award.

Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety.

From Dominican Convent School,

Memory Bvungo.

There is no affirmation

as big as ISEF

that you can actually have

what you dream of.

Here are your four

that are all going to be at ISEF.

It's time to start giving out awards.

Andrew Wagner.

You did it! You did a good job.

Your hard work paid off. See? I told you.

You did it!

Now, you get to prepare for ISEF.

- You ready?

- Yeah.

I'll give you one day off.

I'm going to Atlanta.

I don't even know what's in Atlanta,

but I'm going to do it. Yes!

This year's Grand Award,

best in fair, in the engineering category,

from St. Lucie, Robert Sansone.

I've wanted to go to ISEF

since middle school.

Meeting with people who share

that same passion as I do

I just find it really exhilarating.

I'm the first-place winner.

I'm going to ISEF.

If we win the spot to ISEF,

we're going to Atlanta

and we are partying.

Coming up

on Science Fair: The Series.

We follow six more students

vying for a spot.

A trio in small-town Colorado

hope their love of science

will propel them to the top.

It's my senior year.

This is my last chance to go to ISEF.

I want to go to ISEF so badly.

Not just for myself

but for my family, too.

A fashion-forward phycologist

from Florida tries for the spotlight.

I mean, I knew about ISEF from,

like, a super young age.

I never, like, thought it was

a potential option for me to go.

And Endrick and Savdiel

aim to win it all for Puerto Rico.

ISEF is a great opportunity

to represent my country.

Bye, guys, I love you!

Those who make it will travel

from across the globe

Team Zimbabwe!

to the final showdown

in Atlanta.

These projects are scary.

Today isn't really my day.

If you can't answer

a question, you're done.

As they compete for

eight million dollars in cash and prizes.

Seeing the caliber of some

of these projects, it's breathtaking.

The competition is really steep.

The level of excellence

is so high.

The kids are really driven.

Only one will come out on top.