Budding scientists from Monelison Middle School and Amherst Middle School will showcase their experiments at Sweet Briar College from 10 a.m. to noon on April 3.

Josey Dining Room in Prothro Hall will be filled with posters covered in diagrams, charts and sundry objects required to describe the students’ projects.

This is the sixth year the fair will be held at Sweet Briar and the sixth year Sweet Briar science majors will act as judges. The posters will be reviewed by the judges on April 2.

The experiments are expected to run the gamut of topics.

“There are some unusual science fair topics that are ever-present at any science fair,” said Jill Granger, SBC professor of chemistry and a principal organizer of the fair. “But I’d say in general they are kid-concoctions based on their own interests.”

According to the Amherst Middle School Web site, the students do “real scientific research” for their projects. As part of the judging, participants are interviewed and asked to explain what they did and the results.

Ten students in each of two categories will be selected to go onto the “Discovery Science Challenge” at the Central Virginia Regional Governor’s School for Math and Science in Lynchburg later in the month.

– By Michelle Lurch-Shaw, SBC staff writer