What happens to plants in microgravity? What’s the formula for the perfect boiled egg? How is industrial activity affecting the CO2 levels in Salt Lake County? Do rabbits really prefer burrows to backyards in the winter?

These are some of the hypotheses tested by the brilliant young scientists who competed in the 2025 Canyons District Science Fair. Out of hundreds of experiments, 90 students from 16 schools were awarded top honors and a chance to hypothesize their way to the next level — the regional University of Utah Science & Engineering Fair (USEF). USEF is the highest honor for elementary students in the state.

A small number of junior division finalists will be chosen from the regional science fair to advance to the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, a select few high schoolers will go global, competing at the International Science & Engineering Fair or the Genius Olympiad. Congratulations to this year’s District Science Fair Finalists:

Elementary Division (5th & 6th Grade)

Albion Middle School

• Delilah Hart: “Does microgravity affect plant growth?”
• Avery Owen: “Liquid air travel (representing Ebola)”

Alta View Elementary

• Brynlee Gruber: “Blood Plasma and Hydration”
• Alice Burkhart: “Cut Flowers in Different Substances”
• Araceli Saine: “My favorite candy pH level”
• Rose Cornwell: “Paper in flight”
• Ava Shipler: “Sun Protection”
• Elizabeth Anderson: “Vitamin C Wars”
• Tucker Rasmussen: “What Foods do Ants Like Best?”

Draper Elementary

• Jonny Dunn: “A study of QWERTY-Induced Lexical Drift in Baby Name Trends”
• Kyler Bowe: “Crystalline Warming”
• Strider Thomas: “Does the color of words affect recall?”
• Laci Hiatt: “Marshmallow shooters”
• Trevin Lemmon: “Motors & Magnets”
• Dylan Johnson: “Pressure is On!”
• Olive Tagge: “Skin Deep”
• Stella Shirley: “Splitting Hairs”
• Maya Ngayawon: “The Best way to make boiled eggs”
• Alison Carter: “Turning up the Heat”

Glacier Hills Elementary

• Tim Tracey: “Robot Races”

Granite Elementary

• Chandler Coleman: “How Sour?”
• Olivia Roberts: “What’s the Worst Things for your Teeth?”
• Anna Mennitt & Hannah Wells-Longshore: “Yeast Effects”

Midvalley Elementary

• Roger Diffrient: “How Safe is Your Drinking Water?”
• Andrea Maciel, Helena Caceres, Monroe Ropelato: “Rainwater Runoff and Groundwater”
• Marley Joffee: “The Effect of Hydrogen Facemasks on Skin Hydration”

Oak Hollow Elementary

• Kate Stinger & Jessica Black: “Does baking soda matter?”
• Leah Burr & Mia Jiron: “Eggstravaganza”
• Yliya Shvedava: “How temperature affects crystal growth”
• Preston Pratt: “Lighting Up the Cake”
• Blake Burnell: “Poopy Plants”
• Gabriel Magre & Leo Higham: “Popcorn Palooza”
• Amichai Kahoonei, Kaj Jensen: “Wind Turbine”
• Masie Turner: “What’s the best design for a wind turbine?”

Peruvian Park

• Matthew Shore & Will Corney: “5 Second Rule”
• Facundo Almeida-Aray & Leopold Sroykum: “Are most cats right or left pawed?”
• Nathas Chaiyakunapruk: “Decibel Levels”
• Trisha Steffen & Kiya Valdez: “Investigating What Actions Affect Plant Growth”
• Sera Tsering & Goldie: “The Heart of the Beat”

Quail Hollow Elementary

• Spencer Bishop: “Solar Panels”
• Cru Heinrich: “Vacuum Chamber Experiments”

Silver Mesa Elementary

• Hope Nolde: “Does dog saliva prevent germs?”
• Coulson Baer: “Put the wind to work”
• Emelia Call: “Where is the vitamin C”

Sunrise Elementary

• Callie Leonard: “A Plant’s Favorite Beverage”
• Lucy Nickerson: “Heat & Coke”
• Evan Isaacson & John Arntz: “Rise of Bread”

Willow Canyon Elementary

• Daphne Rich: “Color Brain”
• Erin Garcia: “Do rabbits want to be indoors or outdoors in the winter?”

Junior Division (7th & 8th Graders)

Albion Middle School

• Kennedy Forsgren: “Talking Memory”
• Joslyn Pohlman and Lilyaina Moore: “Falling through Water: Terminal Velocity in Different Densities”
• Hyrum Perkins and Jose Fuentes: “How is industrial activity affecting the CO2 levels Salt Lake County”
• Michael Hill and Sarah Grace Barber: “Take Flight”

Butler Middle School

• Max Lindhardt and Owen Wilcox: “Anti-Bubbles”
• Gavin Drozdek: “Does the type of music you listen to affect the speed you eat at?”
• Ruth Nelson and Sarah Vargo: “Elephant Toothpaste”
• Coorer Bowen and Samson Thomas: “Fizzlers”
• Miles Grover: “How does golf ball compression affect distance and accuracy for beginning players”
• Evelyn Dissel: “Oobleck Mixtures”

Midvale Middle School

• Anushka Rajeev: “Detecting AI Using Computer Programming”

Senior Division (9th -12th Grade)

Hillcrest High School

• Ansh Devlekar: “Deliver It Right 2.0”
• Narayani Shankar: “Using Virtual Reality and Neural Networks to Solve Neck Mobility Issues”
• Lavanya Mohnani: “Interdisciplinary Hyperparameter Optimization”
• Navin Karthik, Srinath Ramakrishnan, Srivatsav Sura: “KOS (Biomechanical Knee Orthotic System”
• Sai Akshith Challagolla, Sai Ananya Challagolla: “Analyzing the Implication of Variable Speed Limit Systems on Phantom Traffic Congestion”
• Wenray Zhang: “Predicting Lung Adenocarcinoma using Gene Expression and Artificial Intelligence Techniques”
• Ishanth Sooram: “Optical Pattern Recognition for Cataract Detection”
• Samhith Vajjala: “Clean Tides”