Breck Students Shine at Twin Cities Regional and Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair

Breck School wrapped up an extraordinary science fair season this spring, with more student competitors than ever before and impressive results at every level of competition.

The season began at the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair on February 27th at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, where Breck brought 43 students and 33 projects — 15 middle school and 18 upper school — to compete among a field of 525 total projects. The results were remarkable: 28 of Breck's 33 projects advanced to the next level, and students took home 8 special awards.

From there, 32 Breck students carried 24 projects (12 middle school and 12 upper school) to the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair at the RiverCenter in St. Paul on March 27th. 

Four projects stood out for qualifying for prestigious national and international competitions.

On the middle school side, three students earned spots in the national Thermo Fisher Junior Innovator's Challenge:

• Autumn L. '30 — More Than Just Skin Health: How Do Chemical and Mineral Sunscreens Affect Photosynthesis in Freshwater Plants?
• Sumana M. '30 — Fuel or Fallout? Testing The Biological Impact of Energy Drink Additives
• Alex S. '30 — MOF's and Algae: Building a Machine to Capture Carbon in the Air

At the upper school level, Selena Q. '26 and Maria R. '26 qualified for the international Genius Olympiad with their multi-year research project, Turf Trouble: Determining the Toxic Mechanism of N, N-diethyl meta-toluamide (DEET) in Turfgrass (Year III). The pair were also named alternates for the International Science and Engineering Fair.

Congratulations to all Breck students who competed this year — your curiosity, dedication, and hard work made this a season to remember!