District Science Fair

All of the sixth graders who wanted to go on to the District Science Fair were allowed to. Of course, Micah wanted to go on. He hoped to go all the way to the national level. His experiment was on getting the gum out of hair. When the judges talked to him at the school level, they told him that the only problem with his project was that he didn't do a "control." He should have tangled gum in hair and tried to get it out without using any sort of product. He told me this a week before the district science fair. I told him I was sorry, but I didn't have any hair left! He should have done the control when he did the original experiment. I cut the boys' hair on Monday and he wanted to use his hair to tangle the gum in, but it was too short and wouldn't have been the same as my hair was. I had saved my hair for that very purpose and it was just the right length for his experiment. So now we know! Always do a control when you do your science experiment! We also know that hair mousse is the best product to use when getting gum out of hair.

Seventh graders are not required to do Science Fair. Cameron is in the Science Club at the Junior High and they were encouraged to participate in the Science Fair. Cameron has been excited about his project for months. He wanted to do his project on triangles and which part of the triangle was strongest when force was placed upon it. I have said many times that Cameron is sort of like the Absent-minded Professor because he's so smart and has all these ideas in his head, but he's also forgetful and he often expects people to be able to read his mind. As a result, he forgot to fill out any paperwork for his project, didn't take any notes, or keep a journal of his project. He did, however, take a video of it which I helped him edit into a short movie that he displayed along with his board. Micah also made a picture slideshow movie that he displayed with his board. I was proud of the boys for each doing their experiment on their own. James had to assist Cameron with some of the weights and logistics, but it was all Cameron's idea and he can really feel ownership of the project because he was the one who did it.

Cameron was one of only 2 seventh graders that entered the District Science Fair. He rode the bus over to the Community Center all by himself because the other 7th grader had a ride from her parents (I thought parents weren't allowed to be there). He said he did well in his interview with the judges, but he thought he was disqualified since he hadn't filled out the papers or brought a notebook or ANY sort of paperwork. And did I mention that he put his board together the night before the Science Fair? Sound familiar? Flash back to History Day? Ahgghghh!

Micah was really hoping to go on, and Cameron was assuming that he wouldn't go on. So we went to pick up their boards that night and hear who won the awards. The boards that qualified for the Regional Science Fair had signs next to them and neither boy had one, so I could tell that especially Micah was disappointed about that. When we got there, Cameron had an "Honorable Mention" ribbon next to his. Imagine how well he would have done if he'd followed their guidelines?!? I was proud of him for that. Incidentally, the other 7th grader got 1st place in her section and in the overall District Science Fair. You wouldn't have believed a 7th grader made the board if you'd seen it -- it had lights installed in the top of the board and was very tall, very professional looking, and had obviously taken hours and hours and HOURS of work. She definitely deserved the 1st place award.

Soon before the awards were going to be given out, the lady handing out the ribbons came around and left an "Honorable Mention" ribbon on Micah's board also. So then he felt better about things and not as disappointed not to go on to the Regional level. After the awards of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category, they gave three final awards, one of which was "the most unusual use of a common household product." Micah won that award. He was pretty happy about that. There were 33 entrants in the Chemistry division, so I think he can be proud that he received an Honorable Mention. Madison from our ward (Colt & Hauna's daughter) received 1st place for which drinks decayed teeth the most (don't drink Coke! Your teeth will rot!). Cameron's category was Physics and there were also many entrants in that category. Kamille from our ward (KimberLee and James' daughter) received 3rd place in that category. So again it was great that Cameron got an honorable mention. There were 3 other LDS kids who placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd and will go on to Regional so I thought that was impressive that so many LDS kids were represented. In fact, Colby is the only one that I don't know how his experiment did. He may have received an Honorable Mention also because they said there were 3 given.

Cameron and Micah both made a point of noticing which categories had the fewest entrants so that next year they will enter a division with much fewer experiments and thus raise their chances of going on to Regionals. They are considering doing a team project because there weren't any entries in that category. It will be interesting to see if either of them still want to do it in a year. Cameron's entire life is one big science project after another, but the office-type things that go along with entering the Science Fair are not things that he likes to do. If we could just plug his brain into the judges' computers then I'm sure he would win every time. But if he has to try to put his thoughts & ideas down onto paper, it just doesn't quite convey what he has to offer. I was really proud of how both of them did. James was really glad that we didn't have to go on to the Regional Science Fair.

Micah's competitive personality came through, though, because during dinner last night he was quizzing Cameron about what he thought Montana (the 7th grader who won 1st place overall) was going to do for History Day because he didn't want to enter the same category she was doing. He wanted to get 1st place and not just 2nd, he said, so he didn't want to be competing against Montana. He has good reason to worry. Montana is one of the kids who went to Washington DC for the National History Day last year. But I don't know if she's even planning to enter it this year. Still, I thought it was funny to see Micah scheming about it and trying to get Cameron, his loyal sidekick, to help investigate the situation. Funny boys. Smart boys. Scientific boys.