Exploring the countless questions about how the world and everything in it works was on display during a recent academic competition.
Thomas County Central High School held its annual science fair Dec. 8. There were 10 winners each for first, second and third places.
TCCHS science teacher Michele Baugh supervised this year’s fair.
“We had less projects overall but the quality of those projects was exceptional,” Baugh said. “Our winners demonstrated the best usage of science skills and analytical thinking.”
Retired science teacher Allen Harden, who helped judge the fair, says components of a winning project include time spent on it, thoroughness of testing the project, and a new take on an old idea.
“A winning project requires students to do extensive background, thoroughly document research [and] clearly communicate research question, process, procedures and results,” fellow judge and TCCHS teacher Sharon Davis adds.
Bradley Dechman, one of the top two placers, said his project this year, “Burning Briquettes,” is a continuation of his from last year.
“The judges from state gave me an idea for a continuation,” he explains. “My project is about finding a renewable resource for people in third world countries and possibly reduce global warming.”
He is excited with his placement.
“I won first overall last year at region in middle school and got to move on to state,” Dechman said. “This year I am proud that, as a freshman, I am one of the top two winners.”
Gabby Melnick and her partner Emily Johnson earned first place for their project, “Water You Moisturizing With?”
“Our idea was to test moisturizers and find a result that could better help our daily routine for skincare,” Melnick explains. “We took several variables (different moisturizers) and put 15 ml on 50 ml of set gelatin. Over the course of the experiment, we measured the petri dishes and whichever variable retained the most mass was the best. I feel thrilled about our placement. It’s really exciting to see our hard work pay off.”
Bryce Barwick and her partner Kamryn Corbin earned second place for their experiment, “Turning Milk into Plastic.”
“We wanted to do something to help the environment and researched and found the topic,” Barwick said. “We turned milk into plastic by adding amounts of vinegar to heated milk.”
Danielle Sauls placed third for her project, “Which Stain Will Remain?” She got the idea after observing her mother faced with trying to remove stains from her younger brother’s clothing.
“She wanted to try stain removers, but she was unsure if a generic stain remover would yield the same results as a name brand that cost more money,” she explains. “That led me to wanting to test a generic and a name brand stain remover's performance on the same three types of stains: organic, inorganic, and a dye. We wanted to see how well the stain removers would remove each stain after a certain number of sprays.”
Students who place first or second in the TCCHS science fair are qualified to compete at the region level on Feb. 16, 2018, at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.
“This process will include project display and interviews about their project methods and analysis,” Baugh said.
Dechman will prepare for region competition by trying some of the ideas the judges had and answering questions raised concerning his project. He adds it is important for students to participate in science fair because doing so allows them to use science to solve some of the world’s problems and make the planet better for future generations.
Sauls supports student participation in school science fairs because it familiarizes them with the scientific method and how to approach finding answers to questions and opens them “to a world of curiosity where they can solve questions they or others have pondered.”
“For students interested in science, it can be a great way to discover that interest and introduce them to a method used in science fields,” she said.
TCCHS Science Fair Winners
1st Place
C'lee Kornegay ~ How Does Algae Color Affect Response to Ocean Acidification?
Bradley Dechman ~ Burning Briquettes
Gabby Melnick and Emily Johnson ~ Water You Moisturizing With?
*Chunjin Park ~ Distortion in Mandelbrut Sets Self Similar Figures
Travis Wright ~ Pump It
Simran Patel ~ How Much Sugar?
Anna James ~ French or Spanish
Britney White ~ Little White Lies
Makenna Maroney ~ Why Does Time Fly
Kaleb Ward ~ Golden Architecture
2nd Place
Drew Lloyd ~ Lettuce Get Toxic
Hailey Ferrel ~ Lead Soil Power
Kenzi Little and Madilyn Roberson ~ Spot or Not
Kamryn Corbin and Bryce Barwick ~ Turning Milk into Plastic
Maggie Simmons and Taylor Willoughby ~ How Sensitive are You?
Nathan Blanchard ~ The Effect of Paper Color and Gender on Memory Recall
Morgan Ward ~ Airless Possibilities
James Gay ~ Bioremediation Using Lemna
Nathanial Gibson ~ Dirty Dogs
Caitlyn Atkinson and Joshua Stephens ~ Rubber Motor Length
3rd Place
Deep Patel ~ Cybersecurity
Megan Clark ~ Hope You Studied
Jessica NeSmith ~ Chewing Gum and Focus
Meg Harnevious and Breanna Watson ~ Boppin’ Problems
Shayla Edwards and Kaylee Ingram ~ Dirty Mouth Effect
Taylor Hester ~ The Electrolyte Challenge
Nick Herndon ~ Keep It Tied
Emily Mitchell and Diana Beason ~ Strike Turkey Spare
Danielle Sauls ~ Which Stain Will Remain?
Jaylen Jones ~ Ball Exit Speed
*denotes student from Valdosta High School