The world stopped for COVID-19. The show (and science fair) went on for these KY students.
On what was supposed to be the closing night of the musical Grease at Kentucky’s McCracken County High School, students were all at home during the coronavirus school shutdown.
But the students got together and created their own virtual finale as a gift to their teacher. The resulting video ended up in Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily news conference.
One of the most significant impacts of COVID-19 for Kentucky students has been the postponement or cancellation of annual events and traditions amid the shutdown of schools. In some cases such as a play or science fair, groups have made do with virtual presentations.
Last December, McCracken County High School students began auditioning for the musical “Grease,” their version of the 1978 film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, a Kentucky Department of Education news release said.
When the coronavirus hit, they decided to move ahead for their teacher, McCracken County High School Drama Director Mary Bowden.
Student Lucas Bohannon’s mom suggested making a video and singing one of the big ensemble numbers from Grease.
Using the karaoke app Smule, the seniors on the cast came together — virtually —and performed the musical’s final act, “We Go Together,” and sent it as a gift to Bowden.
“I cried big, ugly tears. We’re talking the kind that you don’t want to cry in public,” she said. “I think part of me cried because I miss seeing my students so much. I have several of them in class multiple times per day, and then for rehearsals for a couple of hours after school each day.“
Virginia Moore, executive director for Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, signed the song during Beshear’s news conference.
“So many people were impressed with Ms. Virginia signing the song with such expression. I wanted to share that one of the seniors in the video, Claire Buchanan, is hearing impaired,” Lucas’ mother, Tammy Bohannon said in a news release. “Claire has worn bilateral hearing aids since age 4, is a natural lip reader and practices American Sign Language.”
Meanwhile, Eastern Kentucky University was able to pull off a statewide science fair virtually.
EKU’s Jason Marion and June Settle, who run Kentucky’s student science fair, decided that they would not cancel, postpone or move to the fall the 18th annual Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair held annually at Alumni Coliseum.
“These students have worked very hard on their project, some of them for at least a year,” said Settle, who volunteers her time as executive director of the fair. She and Marion wanted to give an online fair their best shot, a news release said.
“There is so much uncertainty and upheaval right now with COVID-19. It’s the least we could do to try to continue with the science fair given the technology we have available,” said Settle.
The Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair was held Saturday, March 28, in virtual form using Zoom and STEM Wizard, a science fair management software.
Originally planned to occur at Eastern Kentucky University’s Alumni Coliseum, the fair instead occurred simultaneously in 567 homes, said spokeswoman Kristi Middleton.
Overall, 346 students competed for awards in categories ranging from animal sciences to robotics and intelligent machines. The students were joined by 221 volunteer judges from across Kentucky and the nation.
Some unique projects included Solar Soldier from Floyd County’s Todd Prater, who won the U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps Excellence in Research Award for his solar panel-covered combat helmet.
A team project from Pike County’s Jaley Adkins and Madison Slone centered on gold and silver nanoparticles from Kudzu vine plant extracts that can assist in cancer diagnosis.
The top three high school winners in the life sciences were Robi Bolli of Louisville (1st place), Saisha Dhar of Lexington (2nd), and Sonia Nagpal of Louisville (3rd.)
Dhar’s research showed the promise of targeting an enzyme associated with lung cell self-destruction, as an alternative or therapeautic aid to mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.
In the high school division for physical sciences, the top three winners were David Vulakh of Lexington (1st), Elizabeth Gallagher of Louisville (2nd), and Lauren Sotingeanu of Richmond (3rd). Vulakh applied an algorithm for reducing time for solving problems, like Soduku puzzles.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 12:11 PM.