Huron student advances to state science fair

HURON — The first time's the charm for Huron student Jadyn Towns. The McCormick Jr. High eighth-grader advanced to the state science fair with her project, which details how exercise affects mental health. It's her first time participating in science fairs, too. "I worked really hard to get my project a superior rating, and it was worth it," she said. Jadyn chooses her research topic for a number of reasons. She wants to help people with anxiety and depression understand how physical activity can help them and help prevent suicide after two students died in separate incidents last year. Jadyn also loves running and wants to work in the medical field. "My research showed that endorphins, which are in your brain, trigger a happy feeling inside of you when activated, and it's activated by exercising," she said. To prove her hypothesis that exercise has positive effects on mental health, Jadyn performed an experiment with 10 people of similar age, some of whom are diagnosed with a mental illness. The participants ran for two minutes. Before and after their run, Jadyn asked them how their day was and had them rate it on a 1-10 scale. "From the data I received from this, both groups were averaged and were positively affected," she said. "However, those with mental health issues had a more significant change from before to after than the eighth-grade students. My hypothesis was right, however, some people aren't affected by running because they may not like doing it. They are still able to do other exercises that they may enjoy, like yoga or bike riding, and still have their endorphins activated." She started her project in November and qualified for the district science fair in March. Since health guidelines were in place due to COVID-19, Jadyn showed off her project electronically. "The virtual Mohican science fair was a little challenging to do because we had to figure out how to take pictures of our board, and include a video," she said. "The video was a little harder to do than actually presenting in front of the judges because you always think that you made a mistake and would have to start all over again." Jadyn now has her sights set on winning the state science fair. Judging occurs May 26 to June 2, but scores won't be posted until June 12. Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com, follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood and on Facebook.com/CaitliNearhood