Juniors Keaton Wimbish, John Childers, Matt Johnson and Kyle Ewers awarded underclassmen for their top science fair projects at the county science fair on Jan. 13.

In eighth grade, these four juniors won a monetary award at the regional science fair, and now they are using that money to encourage other students to pursue science.

This year, freshman Matthew Hyle, a Starr’s Mill High School students, won the prize from the juniors. He explored different fuselage shapes in an attempt to determine if natural-shaped fuselages result in less drag than conventional fuselage shapes. Using fuselages shaped like a brick, a duck, a falcon, a sphere, two USAF fighter jets, two commercial aircraft and two fish, he measured drag on the body in a wind tunnel.

Reduced drag on commercial airliners results would result in vast fuel savings for the airlines and a decrease in drag exerted on the typical airframe.

The juniors’ fund has increased since they started it three years ago. They began with a $100 budget, but raised another $700 by having a yard sale. Mrs. Rae Presley-King, former principal of Bennett’s Mill Middle School where the juniors once attended, said that the juniors’ organization, named Fayette Innovation in Research, Science and Technology (FIRST), “wanted every dollar to go back into the Fayette County School system.”