Five schools in the Hazelwood School District earned ribbons at the 2012 Academy of Science – St. Louis Science Fair. Students from Brown Elementary, Hazelwood Central Middle, Hazelwood West High and Jury and Russell elementary schools received blue, red, green or white ribbons, denoting first, second, third or fourth place.
Russell fifth grader Alexandra Cafolla earned a blue ribbon and special recognition from MEMC, an area semiconductor and solar power company, and the Academy of Science for her project, “Filtering Dirty Water.”
“My parents gave me a water filter kit for Christmas, so I got the idea from that,” she explained. She used motor oil and soil to tap water. “I hypothesized sand would filter the water best and my research verified that.” She said active carbon filtered the second best and gravel filtered third best.
At Hazelwood Central Middle School, sixth grader Sydney Jones’ experiment, “In Which Liquid Will a Crystal Grow Best?” earned her a blue ribbon. She put crystals in a variety of liquids – tap water, salt water and sugar water. Crystals grew best in tap water, she learned.
“It feels pretty good because of all the work I did,” she said. “I searched online and I wanted to use things we had at home,” she explained. “I looked up the information and that’s what I came up with.
Classmates Nyla Reed, Kayla Robinson and Autumn Graves worked together on “Which Citrus Fruit Will Generate the Most Electricity?” They discovered an orange generated the most electricity, 4.5 volts. They tested a lemon, a lime and a grapefruit, too, earning a red ribbon.
“Even though we didn’t get first place, we still had a fun time and we learned a lot,” said Graves.
At Jury Elementary, fifth grade students Colby Rhine and Michael Tillman and fourth grade students Sean Grimmett, Daniel Ray and Christina Richards all earned ribbons. Rhine’s project is called “Batteries Up!” and involved testing different battery brands to see which one held a charge the longest. Rhine said Energizer® batteries lasted longer than the other brands he tested.
“I’m happy because I have never won first place before,” he said of his blue ribbon.
Tillman’s red ribbon project is “The Super Long-Lasting Gum.” He sampled three brands of chewing gum – Big Red, Doublemint and Winterfresh – to determine which brand lasted the longest. He reported it was Big Red.
Ray’s experiment involved chewing gum, too. “What’s Sticking Up There?” tested three brands of chewing gum and how long pieces remained stuck to a flat surface. Ray used a piece of cardboard to test Trident®, Big Red and Bazooka gums. He said Trident stuck the longest, approximately 18 hours.
Grimmett’s experiment, “Got Greasy Chips?” tested potato chips to see which brand is the greasiest. Grimmett said baked Lay’s chips proved the greasiest.
“I feel good because it was my first time doing it and I got a blue ribbon,” he said.
Richards’ project is “Checker Chip Towers,” for which she received a blue ribbon. She stacked chocolate chip cookies in towers on different surfaces – wood, bubble wrap and carpet – to see which was the most stable.
Jury classroom projects are “What’s Inside My Lunchbox?” – Gina Quick, first grade (red) ; “Finding Out About Fruit Snacks” – Dr. Bethany Pendino, kindergarten (blue); “Girls Rule, Boys Drool” – Sarah Wurst, fourth grade (blue); “The Big Brain Theory” – Dan Ryno, fourth grade (red); and “That’s My Song” – Chaverly Morgan, fifth grade (blue).
Russell Elementary also had fifth grade individual and classroom winners. All three kindergarten classes won blue ribbons for their projects – “Whoops!” “Can We Save Humpty Dumpty?” and “Whew! What a Great Fall!”
“Let’s Get Crunchin’” is Holly Withington’s blue ribbon experiment to discover the amount of grease in potato chips. She tested regular Lay’s, Pringles, Ruffles and Krunchers. She said regular Lay’s is the greasiest, while Pringles is the least oily.
“It was really greasy, but it was really fun,” she said of her experiment.
Breleigh Mann’s project, “Purple Power,” experimented with acids and bases. She took purple cabbages, pureed them and drained off the juice. She mixed cabbage portions with other substances – glass cleaner, an energy drink, lemons, antacids, baking soda and others – and recorded which ones turned the cabbage red (acidic) or blue (alkaline).
“It was really fun to do the entire project and to see the different colors they made,” she said. “It feels really cool to win a red ribbon with that many kids at the science far.”
“Burn, Light Bulb, Burn” is Miriam Neimand’s red ribbon project. She connected a flashlight bulb to three types of alkaline batteries to see which one powered the bulb the longest. She reported that two AAA batteries worked for 45 minutes, two AA batteries kept the bulb lit for 1.5 hours and 2 C-type batteries powered the bulb for about 11 hours.
Tanner Whitworth hit a home run with his project, earning a blue ribbon for “Going Forward, Going Back, Going, Going, Gone.” He hit baseballs at Koch Park in Florissant with three different types of bats – wood, older aluminum and newer aluminum models to learn which type would hit a ball the farthest. He said he recorded a distance of 172 feet with one a newer metal bats.
Madison Kennett’s project is “Traveling Sound.” “I wanted to prove cups and coils of wire would send vibrations,” she said. “We based it off of an experiment in a science fair book.” She received a red ribbon.
At Brown Elementary, fifth grader Stanley Williams earned a blue ribbon for “Can Cooked Beans Grow?” He said he tried to determine if bacteria can affect bean plant growth.
Second grader Annelise Dace earned a blue ribbon for “Do Different Liquids Have Different Sounds?”
“I tested rubbing alcohol, corn syrup, milk, water and salt water,” she reported. “I’m happy because I won first place in kindergarten and first grade, too. I’m used to winning blue ribbons.”
Hazelwood West High earned a green ribbon for “What Colors Help Us Learn?” Russell fifth grader Jacob Presnell earned a green ribbon for “How Much Has Eroded?” which tested what happens to pennies immersed in various soda pops. Brown third grader Morgan McKenzie earned a white ribbon for her experiment, “You Are What You Eat.”
