CRESTVIEW — Crestview High School junior Julia Kelsey is state — science fair — bound.
Julia said she is excited to be one of almost 100 students competing in next month's State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida, where she will present a project that encompasses her interest in mathematics.
Her entry, "Pythagorean Theorem: Football vs. Baseball," is a formula that can project a given baseball and football team's number of wins. Julia calculated the 32 National Football League and 30 Major League Baseball teams' winning percentages using the Pythagorean theorem and then determined whether the result reflected its actual win-lose record.
"Football was way more accurate than baseball," she said.
The project, which won first place in the senior mathematics division of last month's East Panhandle Science Fair, was no curriculum requirement, her mother, Amy Kelsey, said.
"Crestview High School juniors are not required to do a science fair project," she said. "Julia chose to do a continuation of her project from last year on her own, including using time over her school winter break."
Julia's love of science and mathematics, which also earned her first place in last year's regional science fair, has persisted since middle school.
Sharon Richardson, her seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Davidson Middle School, got her involved in participating in the annual science fairs, she said.
The teenager puts plenty of work into her projects, Richardson said.
"She is a very determined young woman," she said.
EmailNews Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitteror call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Crestview student heading to state science fair