2nd Annual Brundrett Research Symposium

8th grader, Tripp Collins, explains how he and his group studied how wind speed and cloud cover were related. Photo credit: Julia Plotkin.Over the course of the academic year, 8th graders from the Brundrett Middle School have been completing environmental sampling throughout the town of Port Aransas. The students separated into groups to investigate research questions such as “How does nutrient loading vary between the beach, ship channel and birding center?” or “How does cloud cover relate to turbidity?” The students presented their research findings in a symposium last Thursday. Each group created a poster for the symposium to show their results. Scientists from The University of Texas Marine Science Institute talked with the students and quizzed them about their research in a format similar to that of scientific conferences, complete with awards. Congratulation to the following awardees:

1st place – Wynne Parsons, Ian Johnson, Trace Crane, Maddie Garlough
2nd place – Hailey Clark, Joe Ramon, Amy Beck, Andrew Rushing
3rd place – Hannah Pearson, Grayson Armstrong, Matthew Walker
Best data- Chase Shelton, Phoebe Shelton, Kylee Barwise, Josh Scott
Creativity – Iris Rodriguez, Blake Boysen, AJ Fischer, Skylar O’Daniel

The Science-in-Residence program is supported by Port Aransas Independent School District, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Mission-Aransas Reserve and Port Aransas Education Foundation.

The entire 8th grade participated in the research symposium and were guided by their teachers, Lia Phillips (top row) and James Garrett (not pictured) as well as the scientist-in-residence fellow from The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Craig Connolly (far left). Photo Credit: Julia Plotkin.