The first annual SFHS Science Fair held on Jan. 9 was a success. The first-place winners were David Arrieta with Andres Zamora, Alexandra Terrazas with Lizbeth Madrid, and Rhiannon Webb. 

The second-place winners were Blaze Frost with Mira Ziebel, Jorge Elias Hernandez, and Olive Beffort with Rowan McFarland.

The third-place winners were Brittany Olivas with Phoenix Forlornley, Nicole Corriz with Brianna Gallegos, and Enzo Vigil.

The honorable mentions were Jack Schliening and Bobby Trujillo with D’Andre Alvarez.

The students’ projects fit into three categories: life science, physical science, and earth science. The students had the option to use a project found online that they could follow or to design their own. 

“Dr. Jenkins and I left the topic selection very open-ended,” said Ms. Noonan, a science teacher and organizer of the sfair. “We wanted students to be able to have a choice in this project that they were committing to completing over the course of the first semester.”

Over 100 students showed up to the science fair to display their projects and have them judged. 

“I am very excited that so many students came out to represent their work,” Ms. Noonan said. 

“I’m surprised that this many are here,” science teacher Ms. Lucasi said. “I think it’s great that they have this many who did a project.”  

Some of the ideas that the students had were unique. 

One student, Marisa Peinado, investigated whether musicians have better memory than people who are not musicians. “I was testing if learning an instrument benefitted [our] brains more than I thought, like memory specifically,” she said. “But matching in a pattern test, it didn’t vary very much. But in an auditory test where I read them a number and they said the alphabet and then told me what the number was, musicians got a higher score.” 

Another student tested the effect of a fire extinguisher on ink. According to Grant Canby, “If you use an ‘ABC’ fire extinguisher, it can make ink disappear out of fabric because it changes the pH level, which is where the color in the ink comes from. I used the chemicals that come in different types of fire extinguishers to see whether I could get the same result, and I did not.”

To improve the science fair for next year, Ms. Noonan said, “I think that I would like to do better about including the families and making them aware of what their students are doing and also provide more opportunities for them to complete their assignments during class time. It is really challenging for students to do a project if it has to happen all outside of school.”