Who Are Science Fair Kids?

THAI DOAN

Thai Doan is a Junior at Coon Rapids High School who has participated at the local, regional, state and international Science Fairs since 2001.

Thai plans on attending college after high school, but in terms of a major, he’s undecided. “A career prediction survey once stated that I either love everything or don’t like anything at all,” says Thai. “I prefer to believe that I am one who will enjoy almost anything the world presents in my life.”

Thai’s projects have focused on the fact that, for centuries, mystery has shrouded the beneficial capabilities surrounding the uses of extracted substances from the tropical evergreen, Azadirachta indica, in terms of practical applications. Native to India and Burma, the capabilities of extracts from Azadirachta indica, also known as neem, has reportedly ranged from simple uses, such as insect control, to more “miracle” related effects, such as its ability to cure various diseases such as malaria. This has been the basis of his experiments – to investigate the potentials of such extracts.

Thai believes that participation in Science Fair has allowed him to observe and discover a different part of the world not normally found while traveling through everyday life. He has found that observing and harnessing the inner-workings of a research project greatly accelerates learning in the focused area of study – knowledge to which transcends the constraints of typical classroom development. The knowledge obtained is not entirely confined to the boundaries of the area of study; it is also the process involved in completing the presentation that fully enforces the development of the mind – creation of unique, tasteful presentation boards, writing a research paper to defined standards with proper use of the English language, and the composure, expressiveness, and eloquence required to present an oral presentation in front of a respectable audience.