Piedmont Regional Science Fair

We have made some changes to the regional fair this year in an effort to make the fair a more interactive event for students, families, and community members, as well as decrease the number of times participants need to drive to the fair location. 

We are holding the Elementary Showcase separately from the Middle School and High School Fair. Both events will be held at the G.B. Hodge Center on the USC Upstate campus.  Map to Hodge

• Friday, March 7, 2025:
  • Piedmont Region III Elementary Science Fair Projects Exhibition
  • 1st-5th grade
• Saturday, March 8, 2025
  • Piedmont Region III Junior and Senior Division Science Fair
  • 6th-12th grade

The Elementary Exhibition will serve to recognize winning projects from students’ school fairs. This event will be held on the evening of Friday, March 7th. Students will set up their winning projects by category. All these students and their winning projects will be recognized for their excellent work making it to the regional fair with a certificate and a picture. Students will rotate through 3 activities: 

1. Stand by their project and share about it with fair attendees, 
2. Circulate and do a scavenger hunt of projects
3. Explore STEM activities and resources set up by colleges and community partners. 

This way students will get to share their work and ideas with other students, families, and community members, explore science projects from multiple schools and grade levels, and do fun STEM activities with local organizations. The goal is to make science fair a fun, exciting event that inspires students and helps perpetuate a love of science.

The Junior and Senior Divisions of the regional fair will be held all day on Saturday, March 8th. This way we can combine the judging and the awards ceremony. Students will set up their projects in the morning. They can then mingle and explore different projects. High school students will stand by their projects for the interview portion of judging. Students will be dismissed to explore campus and find lunch before returning that afternoon for the awards ceremony.

The rules and overall format of the posters will remain the same. Projects that use human subjects, biological materials, or potentially harmful materials will still need to provide the appropriate paperwork for SRC approval (Grades 5 – 12). ISEF created a really nice rules wizard to help students determine what they need to do before they submit their paperwork to the SRC. https://ruleswizard.societyforscience.org/

School Science Fair Coordinators, please use this link to identify if your school will be participating in 2025: Participation 

Registration will be February 24th – 28th. All projects must be submitted by 5pm on February 28th, 2025.

The Piedmont Region III Science Fair is hosted annually by USC Upstate. The main sponsor of the Piedmont Region III Science Fair is the Rotary Club of Spartanburg. This fair is an ISEF-affiliated fair and serves students from grades 1-12 in the South Carolina counties of Chester, Cherokee, Lancaster, Spartanburg, Union, and York.