McKayla Red recently earned recognition at the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair at the state competition level for her chemistry project titled “DIY Remedies for Getting a Stain Out,” held Thursday, April 3 – Saturday, April 5. Red completed her project in winter and began competing at Ignacio Middle School, where she is an eighth grader. Later she went on to compete at Fort Lewis College winning first place in the San Juan Basin Regional Science Fair, then moved onto Colorado State University to present her project and eventually receive second place in her division and the “Excellence in Chemistry Award” sponsored by the Colorado State University, Department of Chemistry.
“I am always proud of anything she does, more recently she receives a lot of recognition in her sports, so for her to earn this academically is a really big deal,” McKayla’s father Adam Red said. “The way she presented herself, the confidence she showed at state and then hearing the judges talk about her presentation skills, it was just a really proud dad moment – seeing McKayla, walk across that stage to receive her award was just amazing.”
McKayla Red is a first descendent of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe; she currently attends Ignacio Middle School where she is in eighth grade, she also actively participates in volleyball, basketball, and track. In early January of this year, Red began research for her project “DIY Remedies for Getting a Stain Out,” completing experiments and preparing the evidence for her project poster. In early February, her journey to state competitions began at the Ignacio Middle School science fair, winning first place in her class she moved on to neighboring Fort Lewis College to compete and win the San Juan Basin Regional Science Fair.
“I decided to research stain removal because I can be a messy eater and I often stain my clothes, that is where I drew my inspiration for this project,” Red said. “Designing the board, my teachers guided me with the necessary information to add to the board and the rest of design was on my own–I worked hard, I added a hypothesis, abstract, conclusions, graphs, questions, material lists, photos, and web links to my research materials.”
“Preparing for state, I practiced really trying to [publicly speak] and share as much information about my board as possible, really understanding the outcome of this work and why,” she said. “Eventually I was recognized with honorable mention, or second place, for the Chemistry Department at CSU.”
According to the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair website, “The Colorado State Science Fair, Inc. provides a dynamic platform through the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair, to honor students’ excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; providing opportunities for students from all regions of the state to create and showcase their research in settings that nurture interest in science and technology. CSEF promotes critical thinking, professional skills, high ethical standards, and life-long learning in an environment of accessibility by all students.”
Red shares her experience competing at the state level and the vast difference from her competitions at the regional level. “It felt kind of crazy, because at regionals they separated us into our different divisions so you would get a competing number, and you would stand with your board in a specific room for chemistry projects – but at state, they had a big table just to chemistry projects in a large room, so I was able to see everyone’s work that I was going against,” Red said. “I could hear everyone talking about their boards and it felt nerve racking because I felt that I wasn’t doing enough or that I was unprepared.”
When it came time to announce the award winners, Red, unknowingly about to receive a special award, felt nervous sitting amongst contestants in the Timberline Church auditorium. “I was getting nervous because they were going through all of the special awards first, which was eventually what I ended up receiving – announcers would call groups of kids up to the stage then call out their awards.” Red said. “I kept thinking, ‘I probably didn’t get an award’, as I was sitting there with my dad and my sister the chemistry department came up and called my name, I was so shocked that I had actually got something, it was an amazing feeling.”
On the evening of Friday, April 4, McKayla Red is presented with the “Excellence in Chemistry Award” sponsored by the Colorado State University, Department of Chemistry for her project titled “DIY Remedies for Getting a Stain Out,” standing proudly on stage amongst other contestants, her dad and sister cheered with visible excitement and pride.
McKayla’s father Adam said, “I was sitting there with my other daughter, her sister, Sierra, and we also felt shocked sitting there as [McKayla] was called on stage – when they announced it, Sierra grabbed my arm and started saying ‘Dad, dad! McKayla got something!’ both of our phones were down, so we are jumping up to grab them and get photos as fast as we could.”
This achievement, and all the before, marks the start of a bright future for Red as she continues on her educational path. Red hopes to return to compete again in the high school divisions next year and in the future, she hopes to attend Texas Tech University or University of Hawaii at Manoa.
“It was a very exciting experience, and I am happy I got the opportunity to participate,” McKayla Red said. “I would like to give a shoutout to my dad, Adam Red, my sister Sierra, and my teachers Ms. Roderick and Ms. Redman for supporting me in this journey, thank you for always being there.”