By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — A middle school science fair, hosted at Assumption High School, helps promote and support the relationship between the high school and its four feeder schools — Lourdes in Bettendorf and All Saints, John F. Kennedy and St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport. The annual science fair, for grades six through eight, is a tradition of at least 20 years.
Wendy Martin, who has taught science for more than 20 years at Assumption, said the space at the high school makes it possible to host the elementary schools. It “gives the younger kids a chance to show their projects to a larger group and our high school kids a chance to judge them. I think it is a fun collaboration between the age groups.”
First-year Assumption teacher Stephanie Schroeder agrees. She said students compete at their individual school and the winners participate at the Assumption fair. Twenty students participated this year. Some of the science projects included an experiment testing which stomach medicine reduces the most acid and others explored rockets, human reaction times, non-organic vs. organic fruit, and materials found in water.
Schroeder said the feeder-school students were “genuinely excited to be here and present their projects. You could tell how much pride they had in their work. The Assumption students, who were judges, enjoyed the presentations and took care analyzing and discussing them when coming up with the winners.”