See what projects the students at St. Mary of the Lakes created at their science fair
On Wednesday, March 29, St. Mary of the Lakes School held its annual school science fair. The event is a big deal at the school, so much so that three-quarters of the students volunteer to do projects.
“It is wonderful,” science fair co-chair Kim Martin said. “It’s so great to see the kids totally excited about their projects, and they really want to do this. They have a total blast here.”
Martin got started with the fair 10 years ago when her son was a fourth grader at the school.
“We had a small science fair,” Martin added. “He enrolled in it in fourth and fifth grade. In sixth grade, they asked me to be the chairperson for it, so I took it over and it just grew and grew. Now I have a daughter that is in fourth grade, so I guess I will be doing it for another few years.”
There were a variety of projects the students made. Eight-year-old Lorenzo Evola created a “Lemon Battery.”
“There is science in everything,” said Lorenzo, who would like to become a scientist in the future. “I have a science book and I saw a section about lemons. I thought to myself ‘That’s what I want to do for the science fair.’ Limes have a lot more electricity in them. With one lime, you can power one LED bulb. My project has eight lemons. That would power an LED bulb. But with one lime, you can power an LED bulb.”
Abby Wright wanted to look into the fusion of science and art for her presentation.
“I did my project on marbled milk paper to see if it was science or art,” Abby said. “I first started out with a container of milk and then I added some food coloring. Then, I took a Q-Tip and some dish soap and I dipped Q-Tip and dish soap in the food coloring. It created a swirl pattern. Once I got the pattern I liked, I put the paper on top of the food coloring. I let it sit for five seconds. I took it off the food coloring, and I got the different designs. I let them dry, wrote on them and decorated them.“
One team even dissected one of the most popular foods that is consumed by a number of people.
The team of 13-year-old Lucey Walton and 13-year-old Ryan Conroy delved into ice cream.
“We wanted to do something that a lot of people would like for our eighth-grade year at the science fair,” Ryan said. “We thought people would like ice cream.”
“A lot of people are interested in how it’s made and what ingredients are in ice cream,” Lucey added. “They even use salt when they put it in the ice because salt makes the ice cream colder.”
Grace Martin, 10, was one of the students who decided to use the subject of animals as part of her presentation.
“I have humans versus animals,” Grace said. “It gives the skeletal structure and behavior of human beings and the skeletal structure of animals and their behavior. We are comparing and contrasting things such as the DNA, the skeletons and the behaviors they have.”
Some of the projects took a different approach to present findings. The trio of 10-year-old Nicolas Campanaro, 12-year-old Brandon Donnelly and 12-year-old Vincent Campanaro worked on their project that displayed the inner workings of an iPhone.
“I had an old phone lying around my house and the science fair was coming up,” Brandon said. “I thought it was a good idea to take it apart and see what was inside of it.”
After Nicolas mentioned that it took two weeks to complete the project, Vincent mentioned one of the methods that the team used to get some of the equipment.
“It was cool that we got to take apart Brandon’s iPhone,” Vincent said. “We threw another phone out of the window, and it was fun.”
The crowded gym full of parents, students and teachers had a chance to see all of the projects and enjoy their time at the fair.
“We are really proud of the kids and their unique ideas and their enthusiasm and creativity,” Martin said. “We are really proud of the work that they have done.”
Click on the box below to see more images from the science fair
