{"id":330574,"date":"2026-06-10T12:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/330574\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:25:19","slug":"el-paso-students-compete-at-international-science-engineering-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/330574\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso students compete at International Science, Engineering Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>EL PASO, Texas (<a data-ylk=\"slk:KTSM;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ktsm.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 Six student scholars from three high schools in El Paso attended and competed for more than $9 million at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.<\/p>\n<p>The fair was held from May 9 through May 15 in Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Officials reported that 1,800 high school scientists and engineers from more than 77 countries, regions, and territories were brought together for the event.<\/p>\n<p>For the third year in a row, the qualifiers of the world&#8217;s largest pre-college STEM research competition were all young women, each having presented a research project:<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_ktsm_articles_935\/d018a6a27cdde6917280989d57f372d6.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>To qualify for ISEF, the three female scholars advanced through the competitive Sun Country Regional Science and Engineering Fair held in February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Marina Itzel Lares-Garcia and Bella Vargas were each awarded one of the Special Awards from Arizona State University with scholarships valued at $32,000.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_ktsm_articles_935\/bce034d27001596313f001726240a38f.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>(Insights Science Discovery)<\/p>\n<p>This significant honor recognizes scholarly merit and research excellence, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;ISEF is not only a competition, but a place where students find peers who are eager to learn, share, and welcome one another \u2013 they find their people and future colleagues,&#8221; Sun Country Science and Engineering Fair Director Alfred D. Olivas said. These young scientists and engineers are not just leaders of tomorrow; they are trailblazers in their respective fields today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here are statements from the qualifiers:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Attending ISEF was genuinely one of the most incredible and unforgettable experiences of my life. From meeting people from around the world to standing on a huge stage and stepping outside of my comfort zone, every second felt inspiring.&#8221; -Marina Itzel Lares Garcia<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My overall experience at ISEF was amazing! I met with so many people from all over the world and learned valuable skills in presentation during judging and community outreach day.&#8221;-Bella Vargas<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At ISEF, it is easy to forget that you have reached a huge milestone because of how competitive everyone is, but meeting friends and prioritizing experiences is the most important aspect of such a great opportunity. I am so grateful that I was able to gain so much more than I entered with from ISEF.&#8221;-Hanah Koh<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 Six student scholars from three high schools in El Paso attended and competed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[118142,118141,138,140,139,44850,118140,118144,118143],"class_list":["post-330574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-bella-vargas","tag-biomedical-engineering","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-harmony-science-academy","tag-regeneron-international-science-and-engineering","tag-research-competition","tag-research-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}