Science and Technology
DCMS judges continue to be amazed
at budding scientists’ projects
By Matt Sloan, MD
f the 2018 Science Fair was the year of the small plate,
then we have determined that the 2019 Science Fair was
the year of the judges’ missing parking passes, broth-like
thin coffee, and the missing hearing aids!
The day started ominously. Despite several attempts, I
could not locate online the printable judge’s parking pass that
was to be displayed on my dash. So it was with great trepidation
that in the early morning hours of February 23, 2019, I drove to
Fair Park and, after waiting in the long traffic line, approached an
intimidating, armed gate guard and attempted to gain access to the
fair. Thankfully the guard (who gave me a thorough cavity search)
waved me through to Judges’ parking. (OK, so that may be a slight
exaggeration. By “intimidating, armed guard,” I really mean a small,
but vocal, woman who just smiled and waved me through, but
what fun would that be?)
The next hurdle came with the coffee debacle. Here we sweet
10 Dallas Medical Journal April 2019
judges of all creeds and disciplines had dragged ourselves
downtown at 0-dark-thirty only to find that the coffee was
unbrewed!! It stayed that way through all of breakfast. Aargh!
Finally, as we somnolent and senior judges dragged ourselves
to the exhibits, we were confronted by a cacophony of sound.
This, superimposed on very softly spoken students, created a lot
of interaction in the form of “speak up” and “I cannot hear you”
by the judges; and our leaning into and conceivably intimidating
the brave young students only resulted in their speaking even
more quietly and timidly. I have concluded that I may qualify for
auditory assistance, but enough about me. Perhaps the DCMS
needs to enter its own science fair project entitled: “A Cure for
the Seemingly Insurmountable Problem of Quiet Presenters.” Or
something that will address the all too common refrain of “shut up
everyone and let me hear what these kids have to say.” But that
notwithstanding, here are some meaningful words from Dr Rao:
I
DCMS first place project DCMS second place project