More than 300 middle school students from across Las Cruces Public Schools recently combined science, creativity and data analysis during the 2025–2026 Desert Data Jam, a regional competition hosted by the Asombro Institute for Science Education.
Now in its 14th year, the Desert Data Jam challenges students to interpret real-world scientific data collected in southern New Mexico and creatively communicate trends and findings to broader audiences. This year’s competition took place April 22–23 and included 336 seventh-grade students from five LCPS schools, including Picacho Middle School, Sierra Middle School, White Sands Middle School and Zia Middle School. Students from J. Paul Taylor Academy also participated.
Students began working on their projects in January alongside Asombro staff, using authentic datasets collected by scientists in the region. The top 41 projects advanced to the final competition, where they were evaluated by 42 volunteer judges.
“This competition gives students the opportunity to think critically, collaborate and communicate scientific concepts in ways that are engaging and accessible,” said Dr. Stephanie Hofacket, Director of Teaching and Learning. “It’s inspiring to see the creativity students bring to understanding real environmental data from our region.”
Top awards included:
First Place: Selva Balali and Evelyn Aguirre of J. Paul Taylor Academy for “Holy Cow! The Heat is Rising,” a physical model demonstrating cow body temperatures.
Second Place: Ian McCloskey of White Sands Middle School for “Adapt to Change,” a habitat model featuring coyotes and jackrabbits in grasslands and shrublands.
Third Place (tie): Mya Chavez, Elisa Bai and Izcallie Zarate-Castro of Sierra Middle School for “A Slice of the Wild,” a pizza-themed representation of mammal detections in desert habitats.
Third Place (tie): Trinity Martinez and Noemi Robinson of Sierra Middle School for “Coyote Catastrophe,” an original horror story and illustration project explaining coyote populations in shrublands.
Nine additional projects received honorable mention awards for creative entries that included stop-motion animation, poetry, music composition and board-game-inspired designs.
“At first, I thought that Desert Data Jam was going to be really hard,” said one participating student. “I had never done something like this before, and it sounded intimidating. Once we did it, it was really fun and we had a great time.”
The competition also emphasizes hands-on application of the New Mexico STEM Ready! science standards by engaging students in six of the seven Science and Engineering Practices.
Jayden Garcia and Eduardo Sierra, Picacho Middle School students, and their entry, Mammal Habitat Use.
SSierra Middle School students and their Data Jam entry, Decomposition Derby, a creative project showing stop animation of of clay models representing leaf litter decomposition.
Student Ian McCloseky from White Sands School shows off his 2nd place Data Jam entry, "Adapt to Change"