Laughlin Airmen volunteer at area schools

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Charlie Miller
  • 47th Flying Training Wing public affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Twenty one Airmen from Laughlin volunteered to judge science fairs held at East Side Elementary, Del Rio High School and Del Rio Middle School Jan. 20.

Many of the Airmen had experience with judging or had themselves participated in science fairs.

"The kids here at East Side were very excited to have uniformed Air Force members as judges," said Mrs. Heather Lee, teacher and science fair chairperson at the school. "It's very important to have Laughlin people here for two reasons. First, their presence definitely helps out with the judging and second, the interaction with our school and being in our community."

Second Lt. Josh Downer, 47th Operations Support Squadron, served as a judge at East Side. Lieutenant Downer judged environmental sciences and health and medicine sciences projects.

"While at the Air Force Academy, I was a judge at a local Colorado Springs high school science fair," said the lieutenant. "This is more basic science than the high school level but the kids have worked really hard on their projects. At this level, they don't have to explain in great detail what their project is about."

East Side Elementary and DRHS students proudly displayed their projects for the judges' evaluation but that wasn't the end of it. A number of the elementary students and all of the DRHS students were asked to defend their projects. Judges queried students about where the idea for their project originated, how they developed the project and what its significance was.

"I couldn't imagine doing some of these things in elementary school," said Tech. Sgt. Barbara Allen, 47th Medical Support Squadron, a judge at East Side. "This is something I'll do again. Next time middle school or high school."

Airman 1st Class Dedric Small, 85th Flying Training Squadron, also judged at East Side. The Airman participated in science fairs throughout middle school and high school. Airman Small, a first-time judge, evaluated third-grade chemistry projects.

"I'm trying not to judge the kids here too hard since they are young," said Airman Small. "I like to volunteer for a lot of things and this is a jumpstart for me this year."

According to Alejandria Torres, a science teacher with DRHS, Laughlin members were the only judges used for her sophomore class projects.

"Most of the Laughlin volunteers have a background in science and they always ask the students tough questions, which is a big help as the district science fair approaches," said Torres. After four years of coordinating science fairs, Torres said that the Airmen from Laughlin are always fair and honest with her students.

The Airmen worked through four rooms filled with students and their projects at DRHS. Working independently, each Airman carried a clipboard with detailed scoring sheets upon which they rated the projects in some 15 different categories. Student projects covered many topics including chemistry, engineering, animal science, energy and environmental science.

"I could do this all night," said 2nd Lt. Gregory Haverkorn, 47th OSS. "This is the kind of volunteering I really enjoy."

Lieutenant Haverkorn, who participated in science fairs in high school, said that he spent so much time with each of the students he judged he didn't have a chance to look over all four rooms of projects.

"There is just an expression of creativity here different than any other venue. I really enjoyed the free flow of creativity," said Lt. Haverkorn.