First, second and third place winners in the Hays CISD Middle School Science fair display their trophies after last week’s competition at the district’s Performing Arts Center. Qualifiers from the district’s five middle schools filled the room with research projects in the areas of engineering, mathematics, life science, earth science and physical science. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
A crowded roomfull of science projects drew in a crowd of students and parents and families last week at the Hays CISD Middle School Science Fair. Staged once again at the Performing Arts Center, the event for the first time drew winning student projects from qualifying meets at all five of the district’s middle schools.
The event is intended to help foster a culture of excellence in the sciences, event coordinator Ellen Lyon said. First through third place trophies were awarded in each category, which pitted students from sixth through the eighth grade in the same judging groups.
Highlighting the awards for the day was the “Best of Show,” recognizing Dahlstrom eighth-grader Sean Farrell for his Engineering project titled “Wind vs. Solar.” A beaming Farrell claimed the fair’s top award, a laptop computer, to go with his first place in category and “Best” ribbon. Barton Middle School’s Kailey Bozarth and Saskia Hamner claimed the “Student Favorite” award, for their project, “Blow it Up!”
Full results of the 2011 Middle School Science Fair included the following, by category:
• Life Science: first place went to Megan Ryno of Dahlstrom for her “Feline Responses to Different Kinds of Catnip,” second went to Chapa Middle School’s Jacob Greer for “Tastes Like Chicken!” and third went to Dahlstrom’s Lillian Bonin for her “Testing the Effectiveness of the SODIS Method for Water Purification.”
• Earth Science: first place went to Chapa’s Tracie Purnell for “Soapy Seeds,” second went to Dahlstrom’s Ian Blount for “And one to grow on: Plant Fertilizers,” and third went to Dahlstrom’s Cheryl Gryta for her “How Dark is Dark?” project.
• Physical Science: Dahlstrom’s Crispin Lyman and Matthew Perry took first with their “Green Ways to Charge Cellphones,” Nicholas Perry and Jacon Plescha were second with “Bombs Away: A Ping-Pong Catapult,” and Chapa’s Drew Rozeboom and Andres Garza were third with “Chalk Dissolvers.”
• Engineering: Farrell’s show-winning first was followed by fellow Mustangs Austin Uresti in second and Josh Burnett and Danny Bracamontes in third. Uresti’s project was titled “Underwater ROVs” and Burnett and Bracamontes teamed on “Efficient Propeller Design.”
• Mathematics: first place went to Dahlstrom’s Reid Johnson for his “Water Conservation: Flush with Knowledge,” second went to Dahlstrom’s Areala Mendoza for “The Shocking Truth about Electricity,” and third place went to Chapa’s Thomas Daniel Day for his “Food for Thought.”
