McKenna Thompson of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School in Davenport makes her science presentation to Assumption High School (Davenport) judges Elena Camacho, Matthew Macias and Molly Riley.
For The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Sixteen teams from Catholic schools in Davenport competed in the regional science fair for middle school students Feb. 15 at Assumption High School. Students represented All Saints, John F. Kennedy and St. Paul the Apostle schools.
Nine Assumption High School seniors who have excelled in higher-level science classes judged each project, said Stephanie Schroeder, Assumption’s admissions director. Among the science projects that the students judged:
- What type of cereal stays crunchy the longest?
- Should You Eat It? (Does the 5-second rule really work?)
- Electrocuting H2O! (How does the amount of Epsom salt impact the time it takes to split hydrogen and oxygen molecules?)
- Sightseeing Frogs (Testing how the dimness of light impacts the eating time of frogs.)
- How does the amount of time a soda can is open affect its fizziness?
- Which type of cup is the best insulator?
The students’ project choices impressed the judges because the topics were not the typical ones “you would see in a middle school science fair,” Schroeder said. The scores were very close. First place went to Caleb Cook for his “Should you Eat It?” presentation. McKenna Thompson took second place with “Electrocuting H2O!” and Emma Lewis received third place for her “Sightseeing Frogs” presentation. The winners all are seventh-graders at St. Paul the Apostle and are eligible to advance to state competition.
The middle school science teachers are Matt Hughes of All Saints; Shannon Runyan of JFK and Kari Nydle of St. Paul the Apostle. Senior judges were Matthew Macias, Molly Riley, Elena Camacho, Rebekah Hartsuch, McKayla Froehlich, Lucas Steining, AJ Vazquez, Abby Selden and Ellie Farley.
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