1,200 Horry County students compete in 15th annual technology fair
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Roughly 1,200 students from Horry County Schools competed Wednesday in the district’s 15th annual technology fair.
The event allows students and teachers to share with the community how they use technology to collaborate, create and communicate. Students from pre-K to high school showcased their projects from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
The technology fair’s first year had about 300 students registered, but this year more than 1,200 students competed.
More than 50 Horry County schools participated in Wednesday’s event, including area homeschools and charter schools.
Ashley Gasperson, the digital communications coordinator for Horry County Schools, said there were about 700 projects this year.
“We have 12 different categories, so there’s everything from multimedia to animation, to video, audio to video editing, robotics,” Gasperson said. “We have two different categories for robotics and that grows every year, so we keep having to split them out.”
Gasperson said each school can have two students per category per age division. She said this year, there were more than 100 local judges made up of council members, business owners, CEOs and retired teachers.
“I think I want to make sure the kids have an understanding of what they did but really get beyond that and learn about how they did what they did, why they did it and maybe if they have any plans for the future,” said Tam Muncy, one of the judges.
Gasperson said in years past, high school students have gotten job offers from their projects, but it’s all about the experience. Some students at the fair said they have spent months working on their projects.
Jolene Lane, a Saint James Intermediate student, won third place in her category last year and returned for this year’s competition.
“There’s a huge tank at the bottom, and then it sucks it all up and then it spits it all out at the top,” she said. “It’s because there’s holes in there. It’s really cool.”.
Two Socastee Elementary School students even made a guitar.
“There’s a circuit back here, and the wires there are connected to keys with electrical tape, and this connects it, so whenever you hold onto this wire, and you press these, it’ll make noises,” Ari Smith said.
Abbi Lucus, a student at Ocean Bay Middle School, and her partner, made a charades app.
“It gives you a random generated phrase or word that you can act out and play,” she said. “Pretty much, what you do, is you just shake it and gives you the category, and you have the start time and stop time and stuff.”
Lucas said she enjoys coming to the fair every year to look at other students’ projects because it helps her improve her work.
Gasperson said there will be a first, second, and third place per category, per division, but awards have been moved to after spring break. She said there are also activities for those students who aren’t competing.
“The other half of the convention center, we have interactive activities,” she said. “All of the stuff over here that you see with the Anatomage table, those are all things that we have available in our high schools that are integrating that technology at the higher level.”
Gasperson said her ultimate goal is to one day have a state competition. She said the annual technology fair wouldn’t be possible without the sponsors and judges from the community.
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Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and was raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here.
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