Rutherford County Schools (RCS) middle and high school students presented STEM projects at the 4th annual countywide RCS STEM Expo Tuesday.  

Projects were developed to solve problems, challenges or answer real-world questions.  

Fourteen schools participated in the event encompassing more than 130 projects and 300 students, hosted at Lane Agri-Park Community Center.  

“It gives kids the opportunity to showcase original research and is an experience whether they’re looking to be college ready or career ready, said Stephanie Finley, organizer of the event and RCS science specialist. “This generation is our future. Our future doctors, scientists and engineers. 

Students spent a large part of the afternoon presenting their findings and solutions-oriented projects to competition judges and members of the community. Many community organizations also attended the event, and MTSU generously donated a $1,000 scholarship for the best of show winner.  

One project especially captured the attention of the judges, and of many attendees.  

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Anjaney Sharma from Central Magnet won the Best of Show award for his project — A new and improved carabiner. 

Sharma’s project received both best in category and best of show, and he was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to MTSU. The carabiner exhibit scored 98.1 on its evaluation.  

Projects were evaluated using 10 categories and were assigned a holistic percentage score that determined the winner. Categories included: driving questions, significance of content, hypothesis, student voice, communication of information, and revision/reflection.