Many students don’t realize that once you reach Grade 9 you can compete at city, national, and even international science fairs for cash, scholarships, and prizes. Big prizes. Top winners at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair take home scholarships and prizes worth over $80,000US every year.

Personal growth

Beyond the prizes and awards, doing a science fair project allows you to gain new experiences and skills that go beyond science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. By presenting and explaining your project to judges, who are experts in the field, you get important practice improving how you communicate with other professionals. Not only is this good experience to improve public speaking skills, but it also helps boost your confidence—it’s not every day that you’ll explain your work to top scientists. You also gain important marketing skills—how to sell yourself and your project. Moreover, you gain invaluable interview skills from answering your judge’s questions—skills that could help you later in a scholarship or job interview!

Why do universities value science fairs?

It’s actually quite simple. Success in science fairs indicates you can do more than get good marks. Your participation shows you are innovative and passionate about learning.