For Judges

WESEF 2025 will be held on Saturday, March 15th, 2025
We will be using TWO Locations: 

1) Somers High School will serve all categories EXCEPT Behavioral Science

Somers High School Address: 
120 Primrose StreetLincolndale, NY


2) Somers Middle School will serve Behavioral Science ONLY

Somers Middle School Address: 
250 Rt. 202Somers, NY 


We are still looking for medical and mental health professionals, biochemists, pharmacists, engineers, environmentalists, veterinarians and computer scientists to volunteer to watch student presentations of their research via poster at our annual science fair. The top winners will represent our region at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

Please consider judging and/or passing this on to a friend or colleague.

Link to register: www.wesef.zfairs.org

Link to our WESEF Informational Video

Need more help with registering? Here are two links to additional instructions: 
Summary of Judge Registration Instructions
Detailed Judge Registration Directions

Judge Qualifications…

  • Currently enrolled in a graduate program (M.S., M.A., M.Ed, D.O., Ed.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., Ph.D, M.D, etc.)  OR

  • Bachelor’s degree + 2 years of job-related experience     OR

  • Current or retired professional holding an advanced degree and/or experience working in any of the scientific fields represented at WESEF. This includes school psychologists, social workers, registered nurses, EPA, DEA professionals, etc.

  • NOT eligible to judge:

    • Current K-12 teachers unless holding a PhD and not currently teaching  Science Research students

Basic Information for the Day of the Fair:

  • A light breakfast and full catered lunch will be provided

  • Each judge will receive a ‘thank you’ gift from WESEF

  • The judging rubric is available in the “For Judges” section of the wesef.org website

The Judging Process

  • Projects will likely have 3-5 official judge interviews. The students should be prepared to give an 8 minute uninterrupted summary of their research. Judges are then permitted 5 minutes for Q&A. 

  • There will be official judging periods which will be posted – we will NOT be using bells this year based upon feedback from prior years. Please try to stick to the schedule – you MUST give students the full time to present.  Judges will then have a 5 minute window to score rubrics and move to the next presentation.  

  • Judges will submit rubrics electronically using their cell phones. PLEASE BRING YOUR PHONE FULLY CHARGED so you are ready to go.

  • In some cases, Special Awards Judges will also meet with and interview students.

  • Under no circumstances should a Judge review a student project for which there may be a conflict of interest.  Judges are asked to recuse themselves from any projects where they do not feel they can fairly assess a student project.