BY KIM MORGAN
Chronicle correspondent

The big science fair finale kicks off Saturday Feb. 27 at Lone Star College-Montgomery with an elementary science festival from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Hosted by the Education for Tomorrow Alliance, the festival wraps up the 2010 SCI://TECH science fairs that began in February.

Following the festival, students will find out how they fared during an awards ceremony at College Park High School.

"There will be four or five hundred different awards," said EfTA Executive Director David Norton. "People can't quite grasp the amount of kids involved."

Norton said 460 volunteer judges assessed nearly 1,500 entries at the junior high and high school fairs.

There were 1,200 entries in the junior high fair, which was Feb. 19 at Lone Star College-Montgomery.

Spring resident Diane Atkins-Jones judged seventh graders. She said she was extremely impressed with their projects.

"These kids were so bright, so engaging, so mature and eager to share their experience and knowledge," Atkins-Jones said. "It was my first time judging and it was a great experience."

Jeff Pharis, a product design engineer at Baker Hughes, was a judge at the Feb. 13 high school fair in Conroe, where there were 260 entries.

"I was really impressed at the students' levels of comprehension of complex ideas," Pharis said. "They were using equations I learned my senior year in college. I couldn't believe it. The projects were so well done, it was hard to pick just one."

Two students from the junior high level and two students from the senior high level will receive cash prizes ranging from $300 to $500.

In addition, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, sponsor of the senior high science fair, will award one student $500.

First and second place winners in 13 categories will be eligible to advance to the Science and Engineering Fair March 11-13 in Houston.

Categories include biochemistry/microbiology, behavioral/social, chemistry, computer science, earth space science, environmental science, animal science, plant science, medicine health, energy and transportation, mathematics, engineering, and physics.

Want to go?

What: SCI://TECH elementary science festival
When: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday Feb. 27
Where: Lone Star College-Montgomery, 3200 College Park Drive

What: SCI://TECH 2010 awards ceremony
When: 4 p.m. for juniors, 6:30 p.m. for seniors, Saturday Feb. 27
Where: College Park High School, 3701 College Park Drive
For more information: www.efta-us.org
Extra information: Education for Tomorrow Alliance is a nonprofit educational organization that partners schools, business and civic groups in Montgomery County.