Zinkula wins silver medal at world science fair

GRUNDY CENTER –  Earlier this month, sophomore Reegan Zinkula became the first ever Grundy Center High School student to attend the International Sustainable World Engineering, Energy, and Environment Project Olympiad, or, ISWEEEP, held in Houston, Texas.
Zinkula was invited to showcase at the prestigious event after capturing the attention of judges at the ISU State Science and Technology Fair in Ames last month.
The project that impressed judges so highly? A prototype pit fan designed to harness wind power and convert it into a renewable energy source – an idea Zinkula came up with for a science fair project when she was in 8th grade.
The idea, Zinkula said, is simple: every hog confinement has a pit fan, which provides much-needed ventilation for the animals living in the facility, as well as the humans working inside of it. But, instead of using up energy to run those fans endlessly, why not let the fans create their own energy?
“If the renewable energy is right there, why not harness it?” Zinkula said.
And that’s what she set out to do three years ago, when she designed her first plans for the pit fan renewable energy source.
For the full story, see this week's edition of The Grundy Register.