ALBUQUERQUE
Two Fort Wingate High School students will head to Oregon
in May to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering
Fair.
Junior
Rachelle Bill and her classmate Nathanael Willie were among the
winners here this weekend at the 17th Annual National American Indian
Science and Engineering Fair.
The
fairs projects, which were reviewed by American Indian judges,
blended modern science with traditional Indian customs.
More
than 350 students from across the country in grades 5-12 participated.
Bill
and Willie were among the seven high-school students, including
two alternates, chosen to compete in the international event in
Portland, Ore., May 9-15.
Bills
project, called Natures Pharmacy, was sparked
by curiosity into an herbal remedy a Navajo medicine man gave her
grandmother for a skin infection.
The
project put pharmaceutical products up against herbal remedies,
Bill said. I wanted to find out what inhibits the growth of
bacteria more effectively.
She
found tea tree oil is the most effective remedy against E. coli
and Staphylococcus.
Willie
won for his environmentally friendly experiment exploring the possible
role of bacteria in oil spill cleanups.
I
wanted to know how E. coli and other bacteria would break down the
structure and composition of oil, he said.
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