El Paso students earn recognition at ISEF

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) --Mia Olivas, Abigail Caguingin, Ivanna Aragon, Ivanna Aragon, Bella Vargas, Marina Itzel Lares-Garcia and Hannah Koh.

For these El Paso students, a science fair project became a trip to the international stage and their scientific research gained international recognition.

"We can all agree that there's so many problems throughout the world," Hannah Koh told ABC-7's Olivia Vara during the interview.

"It's like adding a grain of sand to build a sand castle. It's such, a lot of people might consider this as like, you're not doing much. It's just a high school science project....being able to start off with a high school science project and develop that into real research and help and fix real world problems is what I think all of our goals are here," said Hannah.

These young scientists recently represented the borderland at the International Science and Engineering Fair, or ISEF. It's one of the world's largest competitions for young scientists. They say getting there took months of research, testing and preparation.

"It was so much like, ugh, will I make it? Will I not make it? But, of course, we ended up making it," said Ivanna Aragon, another one of the student scientists.

From dogs' paw preferences to skin hydration, these students turned everyday questions into research. 

"This specific project, since my family has, like, a history of all these skin conditions, it was important for me to, like, understand, like, how these ingredients really affect you, and how it could affect everybody," said student scientist, Abigail Caguingin.

"Don't even consider yourself a woman in STEM. Consider that you're a person in STEM. Don't focus on the fact that I might be disadvantaged. Focus on the fact that you can get over that disadvantage and work even harder to surpass any obstacles that you might come to," Hannah Koh told ABC-7's Olivia Vara during the interview.

These students hope their success inspires more young people to explore STEM.