Abigail Kemper will be entering the 8th grade next month, but she already has a long list of accomplishments in the field of science.  She talked about that before the Hamilton Southeastern School Board Wednesday night, and answered questions from board members.

This past year, Abigail placed in the Top 10 at the Seventh Grade Science Fair held at Fishers Junior High, which qualified her to attend the regional competition. At that competition, Abigail won the Air Force Outstanding Engineering Project Award, First Place in Seventh Grade and First Place in the Junior Division, also qualifying her to move onto the state competition.

On March 30 at the Indiana Science Fair State Competition, Abigail took home the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize, the Indiana Association of Environmental Professionals Award for Excellence in Environmental Science and the Best Engineering Project by a Female from the Society of Women Engineers. Abigail also placed second overall and was awarded a $650 prize.

Abigail is a former student of SCI teacher Jennifer Suskovich and used their classroom project of designing and building a solar panel stand that utilizes angles of the seasonal sun to maximize the amount of solar energy captured by the panel as her starting point for her award-winning project.

Abigail and Mrs. Suskovich recently returned from Washington, D.C. where they attended the NEED Awards Ceremony. Sand Creek Intermediate was named the Indiana School of the Year and National Junior Rookie of the Year.