In June 2014, H.B. Whitehorne Middle School hosted a Science Fair for the first time in Verona schools’ history. The event was a success and had strong enough participation to be tried again. The next fair will take place on February 26, 2015, and sign-ups are now in process.
The 2014 fair had a total of 18 projects involving 24 students in fifth through eighth grade. Students participating in the fair were required to follow the standards of scientific method by including a hypothesis, the experiment and the conclusions. For judging, students in fifth and sixth grade were in one group and seventh and eighth grades in the second. All projects were judged by Yvette McNeal and Howard Freund, respectively the principal and vice principal of HBW.
Students were judged on how well they followed the procedure of conducting an experiment, their collected data, their research and how closely their conclusions related to their hypotheses. The projects which stood out the most to the judges were those where the conclusions had implications for other areas of study. The 7th/8th grade winner was Caitlin Klose. In the 5th/6th grade group, Daniel Valentine was the winner with Abigail Bermeo and Emily Weisser in a tie for second place.
But the Science Fair wasn’t just about science. For the students it was about “having an outlet to have fun with science,” said Carolyn Pietrucha, who is a seventh grade science teacher and led the fair. McNeal, who spent about 10 minutes with each project, said it “opened communication and presented an opportunity to speak incredibly in depth with the students about their work.” Considered a success by teachers and students, the science teachers and students are looking forward to this year’s event.
