STONEWALL, Okla. (KTEN) - On April 6th, students at McLish Middle School Annex competed at the annual National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair (NAISEF) at Oklahoma State University. Three students came home with the gold.

Kris Larsh teaches science at McLish.

"We had one national champion in bioformatics, which is forensics, over here on my left, and then we had a national champion in environmental engineering, and then we had one national champion in what they call energy and design," Larsh explained.

The students also won two special awards from the Sierra Club and the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Education Program.

"They're being judged by the real people," said Larsh. "I mean, we've had CIA agents judge them; we've had engineers that work at OSU; we've had on-site from the Air Force, the Army."

McLish Middle School students recently won national recognition at a science fair.
McLish Middle School students recently won national recognition at a science fair. (KTEN)

The science fair is part of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES), and aims to acknowledge and support indigenous students entering science and engineering competitions.


"I got to see more people, and also I got to learn more from other people's boards," a sixth grader said. "I think it really impacted our future, and I feel like I got smarter from it."

Some of the students are already starting to prepare for next year's competition.

"This project is going to carry on into my high school year," said one eighth grade student. 

The McLish science teacher believes that competitions like these help students grow into their next chapters. 

"The kids are understanding why they're sitting here, in education, learning, is to take that next step into the real world, when they get to college, trade school, whatever path they take,” said Larsh.