McLean held its annual science fair on Feb. 1, where all students enrolled in an honors science class competed for top placements in a six-hour long event. Spanning from the end of the school day to around 9 p.m., this was the shortest leg of the process that these students endured.

Junior  Sami Dhanani, a contestant in the fair, received an honorable mention for his work in the skill of purifying salt water.

“The science fair isn’t something I would do by choice; in reality, the actual presenting was nothing compared to the actual process of performing the experiments. But overall, science fair was something I generally enjoyed,” Dhanani said.

The fair consisted of four stages: the set up phase, where all students found their location to set up their poster board; the presenting phase, where three judges come around at random to listen and judge the experiments performed; and finally, the awards ceremony.

“I actually didn’t know I received an honorable mention I had left before the award ceremony because I thought my experiment, since it failed, wouldn’t receive anything, but I guess I said the right things when presenting and the judges liked it,” Dhanani said.

The winners of the grand prize were seniors Calvin Zug, Kylan Grezenz and Shriansh Sighn, who won for their investigation of composting and its possible future effects upon the earth.

“This event was amazing because all  the inventive and scientific student minds at McLean gathered in one condensed room and showed the true scientific might the McLean student body possesses,” Zug said.

The grading scale carries from class to class and holds different weighted percentages.

“I enjoyed the fair event though I didn’t win, but there’s something I don’t like about it. I don’t like how the fair plays into my Geosystems grade,” Dhanani said,  “I heard it makes up 60 percent of my overall year grade while each quarter makes up 10 percent. I really dislike that system.”