St. Mary School recently went up against other schools from the northeast Ohio region more than twice its size, but came out with big results...
Akron District Science Fair
St. Mary School recently went up against other schools from the northeast Ohio region more than twice its size, but came out with big results. Eight students earned a superior rating and a spot to compete at the district science fair level next month. This is double the amount that qualified from the school last year.
Mary McCauley and Ellie Faber both received first place in their divisions, while Gabe Virant and Danny Duffy placed third in their sections. Faye Hoey received The Governor’s Thomas Edison Award for Excellence in Environmental Science sponsored by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for her project, which focused water quality and bacteria.
All eight students who qualified will now go on to compete at Akron University in March against 400 other students from District 5, which includes all of Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Summit and Portage counties.
Molly Passow’s project called “Cool Blue Light” helped her score a superior rating, but she said, “It was nerve-racking. First we talked to two judges, and if they each ranked us as superior, we were then visited by all the judges.”
Eighth-grader Danny Duffy will advance with his project “Heating Up,” which looks at what heat is left on the body after making contact with cell phones or tablets.
“I used an infrared camera to measure the results,” he said.
Catchy titles and interesting research topics helped many students advance. First time competitor, Gabe Virant’s project “Testing the Power of the Microbile Muncher” studied how insects could be used to help decompose plastics and packaging items. Megan Duffy used hamsters in her project “Resveratrol…the Fountain of Youth” to demonstrate its youthful benefits. Faith Tomsick investigated the cleanliness of dine-in restaurant’s forks in her project “Restaurant Dining: Dirty Truth.”
Faith said, “I enjoyed presenting my project to the group of people”.
Junior high science teacher Amber Yeager has already helped St. Mary School earn the distinction of Thomas Edison STEM Award winning school for the second year in a row and now staff is working toward becoming STEM designated by the State of Ohio this spring. Mrs. Yeager and fellow math teacher Julie Fedak will attend the district science fair as judges in March. St. Mary School is looking forward to more awards in the next round and congratulates all the students who participated.
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Gabe Virant displays his awards from the local science fair.
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St. Mary students (l to r) Gabe Virant, Faye Hoey, Ellie Faber, Mary McCauley, Molly Passow, Faith Tomsick, Megan Duffy and Danny Duffy will advance to the district science fair competition in Akron.
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Faye Hoey displays her Governor’s Award for Environmental Science.
