ST. CROIX - Students at Good Hope School are competing to have the chance to go up against about 1,400 students from around the world in the largest pre-college science fair in the world.

But first they have to win the top spots in the Good Hope School Science and Engineering Fair this week. The fair is affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Six out of the 125 middle and upper school students competing in the fair will travel to Reno, Nev., in May.

This is the ninth year the Good Hope Science Fair has been affiliated with the national event.

The six students consist of the top two individual students of the fair, the top team of two and two additional students who will observe. They will also be accompanied by two teachers.

The students are exhibiting in 12 categories, from behavioral and social sciences to zoology. The project is an independent study, with students choosing their topics and identifying their questions.

All sixth-graders through 11th-graders taking science classes are required to participate in the fair. Seniors can choose between doing a fair project or a senior seminar project.

Sixth-graders work in groups on projects, and seventh- through 12th- graders work as individuals or in teams of two.

Lower school students can participate by displaying their projects and participating in demonstrations. This year the fourth grade class made Play-Doh, slime and chemical reactions.

Science fair director and upper school science teacher Jane Coles coordinated the fair with fellow science teachers Jim Kimble, Amanda Sackey and Olga Hutchins.

"Each student chooses a project in their area of interest, and they work individually to their full potential," Coles said.

There are lifelong tools learned at science fairs by using critical thinking, time management and combining academic skills such as reading, math, research analysis, artistic abilities and using verbal skills, Sackey said.

The science fair will be judged today by Association of V.I.

Psychologists' Dr. Wayne Ethridge and Dr. Dara Hamilton, HOVENSA vice president of Environmental Health and Safety Richard Smullen, Good Hope School Technology's Robert Freiburghouse, and Good Hope art teachers Phyllis Biddle and Pedra Chafers.

The fair is sponsored by HOVENSA, the Edouard Foundation and Good Hope School. The school receives a grant from the Edouard Foundation that funds science.

The fair will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. School groups interested in touring the fair are encouraged to call 772-0022.