Students in grades ranging from kindergarten to eighth-grade had the opportunity to present their projects on April 19.
Kim Martin and Nicole Stouffer are co-coordinators of the St. Mary of the Lakes School annual science fair. As parent volunteers, they take on the behind-the-scenes responsibilities of making the science fair remarkable year after year, with the science fair being the largest student activity.
The science fair took place on Thursday, April 19, where family members and friends were welcomed into the school to check out the projects from students of all ages, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Martin has been coordinating the science fair for 11 years, while Stouffer has been coordinating for six. The preparation began in November, and students were encouraged to start their projects as early as January.
The science fair is self-funded by snacks and T-shirts sold throughout the course of the school year, as well as raffles held the night of the event. The mission of the science fair is to help students develop awareness of scientific and environmental issues and to understand how they relate to the world around them. Student participation in the science fair is voluntary; however, more than 75 percent of the student body chooses to be a part of it.
Interest often stems from the after-school science programs in robotics, chemistry, physics, veterinary training, coding, marine biology and weekly programs on various other science-related topics.
Even those who choose not to submit a project still had the opportunity to be included in the science fair through contests for artwork to be displayed on the front cover of the information packets that were handed out to those attending the event. There were two contests, one for students in kindergarten to fourth grade, and one for students in fifth to eighth grade.
“My favorite part of the science fair is the look on the kids’ faces when they see me and say ‘Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Martin, come see my project,’” Martin said. “It’s the proud expression on their face when they’re showing people their project, that’s really why I do it.”
Stouffer enjoys being a part of the science fair because the students gain the ability to independently research, along with gaining presentation skills, project planning skills, and collaboration skills if they choose to work as a group.
“When they explain their projects to me they are so excited and proud of themselves,” Stouffer said.
Third-grade student Noah Pirrotta is taking part in his fourth science fair and worked with his father to create an electric spark that climbs up two parallel poles. The spark is created from a neon sign transformer where 120 volts goes into the transformer and 15,000 volts come out.
Annie Bransfield, Grace Martin and Anna Spiegel are fifth-grade students who each took on a different experiment using an egg. Bransfield’s experiment “Egg in a Bottle” began by putting strips of newspaper with a lit match inside a bottle, then placing a hard-boiled egg on top (must be larger than the opening), making the egg fall into the bottle due to the change in air pressure.
Martin used science to find a way to allow an egg to survive a fall from multiple feet above. She strategically taped straws together around the egg as a way to cushion the fall, diverting the energy away from the egg, allowing it to stay intact.
Spiegel created a rubber egg by placing an egg into a container with vinegar, which created a chemical reaction, allowing the shell to dissolve but keeping the membrane of the egg together, giving it a rubbery texture.
Eighth-grade students Emily Valentino and Lexi Smolinski have been working together on science fair projects for the past few years. They created a virtual reality video through the use of Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software and the Insta360 camera. They both looked forward to seeing everyone’s reactions when putting on the virtual reality goggles.
Smolinski said the best part of the event is seeing faces of awe, and followed by saying, “It’s not every day you see eighth-grade kids making an entire virtual reality video.”
About 165 students participated in this year’s science fair, and Martin and Stouffer hope to encourage even more students to get involved each year. They are planning to jump right into preparation for next year’s science fair, predicted to be held in January.
