St Rose Scientists Demonstrate Their Work

By Tanjua Damon

Red Skittles many be the favorite of several specimens in Morgan Milano’s science project. Many of them many have not thought red Skittles were their favorite until her Super Subliminal message got a hold of them.

Morgan had her human specimens listen to “Tearing Up My Heart,” which had a message that red Skittles are their favorite recorded in it. When the project was complete, six out of 16 people said red was their favorite, with green making a close second.

St Rose students in fourth through eighth grades participated in the science fair that brought many creative young scientists out of their laboratories and into the public eye to show their hard work.

“I think it was a success because there are five different color Skittles,” Morgan said. “There were a lot of people who picked red, and green, which was the next highest. Getting the compact disc recorded right [was challenging].”

Making sure students had fun with the project was important for the teachers at St Rose. Students had to take a topic that interested them to build a hypothesis to see if what they thought could be proven.

“We told them to have fun and enjoy it,” teacher Rob Stowell said. “Hopefully out of that fun they actually learn something. This is so much more than I envisioned. I’m amazed.”

Rachel Rowan’s project dealt with rocks, to see which ones would float. Although Rachel’s project had a bit of an odor to it with the help of vinegar, she found that pumice floats.

“I liked using the vinegar with limestone, seeing it bubble up,” she said. “Breaking up the slate with your fingernails to see how it was forming was hard.”

Patricia Culligan used red dye and plants to see how the dye would affect the veins of the plants. In small plants the dye traveled from the outside to the inside and with large plants the dye moved from the inside to the outside.

Emily Boncek’s project dealt with viscosity. She looked at motor oil, water, Karo® syrup, and vegetable oil to determine which was the thickest. To her surprise Karo® syrup is thicker than motor oil.

“The thicker the liquid the slower the weight will go,” she said. “I liked dropping the weight in. It was fun trying to figure out which ones were thicker.”

Laundry detergent caught the eye of young scientist Brianna Barry. She took four detergents – Tide, Ajax, Arm & Hammer, and Dynamo – and put various stains on cotton shirts to see which detergent worked the best.

“Tide worked the best out of the four,” she said. “I would have thought that Ajax and Arm & Hammer would have worked better. So I was surprised they didn’t.”

Growing tomato plants in natural and artificial light was Meaghan Dawley’s project. She found that her seedling experiments did better in natural light, while existing plants did fairly well in both natural and artificial light.

“I liked doing the charts,” she said. “I really enjoyed the whole project.”

The winners for the St Rose 2001 Science Fair are listed by grade.

Fourth grade winners: first place – Mary Kate LoPiccolo; second place – Ian McEmber; third place – Brian Murphy; fourth place – Meagan Kelly; fifth place – Gen Bleidner; and sixth place – Daniel Quinn.

Fifth grade winners: Best of Show – Morgan Milano; first place – Sarah Oravecz; second place – Justin Lemma; third place – Meaghan Dawley; fourth place – Anne LoPiccolo; fifth place – Natalie Clavette; and sixth place – Kevin Troy.

Sixth grade winners: first place – Jessica Neufeld; second place – Joe Rahtelli; third place – Michael Murphy; fourth place – John O’Brien; fifth place – Sarah Harmony; and sixth place – Alison McEmber.

Seventh grade winners: first place – Kara Gardner; second place – Erica Ruiz; third place – Tim Boncek; fourth place – Brendan Kelly; fifth place – Jen Kalbacher; and sixth place – Greg Krashaur.

Eighth grade winners: first place – Adam Drummond; second place – Michael Corbeil; third place – Steven Mason; fourth place – Daniel Kirk; fifth place – Dan Mortenson; and sixth place – Kevin Byrne.