Call me bitter, I am bitter (Score 1)

These kinds of things always bother me. It isn't simply because I didn't and still don't have the motivation to do this kind of thing in High School or College for that matter. It is because I don't think these kind of contests even recognize what the purport to. As several posters have noted, these types of projects simply cannot be undertaken by high schoolers acting independently. Although I do agree that certain CS and Math projects could be done, I am willing to bet that none of them were done without assistance from real scientists. Someone previously posted that they would give the equipment to a 4 year old if they could show their theories were sound. I propose that if you did give the equipment to the 4 year old, they wouldn't even need the theories. With only a tad more assistance than most of these students got, I bet a 4 year old could come up with the same results. I don't feel like writing a more poigant critique at this time in the morning, perhaps someone else put it better.