Science Fair Students Move on to District Level

By Stephen Ditty

The annual science fair, which was held Jan. 27 has come and gone, with participants winning awards and moving on to the District fair. The four categories that projects were entered in were Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science.

The winner of the first place entry for Biology, sophomore Connor Healy, based his project on magnets and algae. Using several magnets, he placed them inside an algae-filled pond to see whether they could be influenced by the different magnetic fields made.

He said that the results could be used to group algae together in the center of a pond so the algae could be easily cleared out. This makes clearing wetlands such as the area near the Jordan River near Draper easier for cleaning crews.

Healy wasn’t surprised at making it to the district competition.

“I know I’m definitely going to state,” he said.

The second and third place winners in the Biology category were Alex Parata, junior, and Frank Parata, sophomore, and senior Sage Allen in third place.

Sophomore Emily Goodrich, first place winner in the Chemistry category, said that she was also not surprised at all at making it past the school science fair to the district competition.

Her project was on Bio-diesel fuels, and incorporating different oils such as canola oil, pine oil, and peanut oil. The point of the experiment was to help improve fuel efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gases.

Second place was sophomores Nicole Barnes and Amy Saunders, with third place awarded to junior Cassi Cram in the Chemistry Category.

Junior Andrew Shaw won the first place award in Physics with his project, determining whether throwing a Frisbee with more power or throwing it with more spin would make it travel farther.

Shaw said, “I definitely know I’m going to state. I did a project just like this last year and made it there.”

Sophomore Kacen Moody took second place in Physics, and juniors McKay Burnett, Emily Newman, and Jordyn Cavanee took third place.

Sophomore Lex Border won the first place award in the Computer Science category and will be moving on.

A notable project that was done was Alan Price’s Zombie Apocalypse. The experiment was structured to show how fast a commutable disease could spread within a closely packed populace, using a “Zombie Infection” metaphor. However, the project didn’t make it to district.

The district science fair competition will be held in the Tech Atrium after school. Students who will compete are seniors Cody Evans, Josh Timm, and Darrin Olsen, juniors Wyatt Folger, Taylor Taggert, and Ben Adams, and sophomores Kenny Dailey, and Nick Shaw.