Science Fair Held at Cromwell-Wright School

03/14/2006

Science Fair Held at Cromwell-Wright School By Jennie K. Hanson

March 14th, 2006 was the date for the Science Fair held at the Cromwell Wright School.  Seventy-six Students in Grades 7, 8, and 9 displayed their Science Projects that they had been working on and researching for the past 6 weeks.  Each student or group of students picked a topic to research, do experiments with and then displayed their findings on display boards.  As you walked into the auditorium you were struck with the huge number of display boards.  They filled up the entire riser area and overflowed onto the stage.  Parents and students filed in slowly at first to look them over and later more and more people came to check them out.

Science Teacher, Mrs. Lori Wester, said that this is the 2nd year she has had her students do this project.  Most of the students picked their own ideas for their projects and the 9th Graders got to work in small groups. Wester commented that she may not have the students working in groups next year as some of the kids in the group seem to do most of the work, and other seems to try to get out of helping very much.  But, for those who did do the work, the projects were very impressive.

Ms. Wester said she got the idea for this project from seeing them at other schools and they she adapted it to her Science Classes.

Amber Witz, a 7th Grader, did an experiment called the “Freshest Fruit.” She tested apples, bananas and oranges to see which fruit stayed the freshest when kept in a Glad container for 3 days.  She said the Apple was freshest, but also said she wouldn’t eat any of the fruit after the experiment was over.  She earned a Red Ribbon for her efforts.

Ryan Hutar also a 8th Grader earned a Blue Ribbon for his experiments on Bouncy Balls.  He found that Borax or Glue would make higher bouncy balls.

Jordan Smith a 8th Grader, tested the affects of evaporation on colored or plain water.  He tested the water for 20 days before coming to the conclusion that there is no difference in evaporation.  He earned a Blue Ribbon for his efforts.

Each student had to do the research, predict their results, do the experiment and then publish their results on display boards.

The most popular type of project was testing the strength of paper toweling.  Other students tested how fast things mold, “Does Air have Weight?”, and what tastes better.

There were 11 Blue Ribbons, 11 Red Ribbons and 20 White Ribbons awarded.  2 judges judged each project and the student’s presentation was 1/3 of their grade.  So, if a student had a terrific project, but wasn’t able to give a good presentation, they may have gotten a Red instead of a Blue ribbon.

Ms. Wester said that she plans to do this again next year, as it was huge success.  The students learned a lot and so did the public who attended the Science Fair.

I would like you to know we read your articles through the netscape.net here in lower Michigan. We left Wright along with many others in the ‘80’s due to labor shortages. My daughter Karan Tabako Gross, now living in Bad Axe, Michigan with Leon (Junior) Guza, soon to be married, just found out that she’s not only pregnant but, she’s going to have twins, a first in the Tabako family. Karan went to Wright elementary school than to the high school in Cromwell until she moved with her parents to Las Vegas Nevada.