Jim Thorpe Area School District middle school students, from left, Alex Strauss, Noah Rodgers, Sage Hukka and Garett Holloway waitin the Easton Area High School lobby for their classmates to return from making science research presentations during the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition. The 81st annual meeting of the PJAS Region 3 for Schuylkill, Berks, Lehigh, Carbon and Northampton counties was held there on Feb. 28. Some 1,200registered students from seven through 12 grades, whose schools are affiliated with the PJAS, competed for prizes and scholarships. The first-place finishers advance to competition at the PJAS State meeting to be held in May at Penn State University. The students were judged during their individual presentations by 180 volunteer academicians from PJAS Region 3.