The Roanoke County Science Fair took place at William Byrd High School on Saturday, February 23.  It was a busy day with many students, parents, teachers and judges studying various science exhibits ranging from subjects like The Effects of Activity on Blood Glucose Levels on Hypoglycemia to Factors that Affect Bacteria Growth.

There were 46 exhibits at the event, and while many of them were displayed in the typical poster board fashion there was something different this year.  This was the first year that some of the students used projectors to display their projects. In fact, Cave Spring High School science teacher, Stephen Biscotte said, “we’re using the projectors and creating digital projects so that we can make them available online for future use.”

Several students from Cave Spring High School told me more about their projects.  Hailey Sitze did a project on comparing different types of sunscreen and Jessi Slakman studied which object grew bacteria the most… and you know what she found?  The cell phone grew the most!  Second was, not surprisingly, our hands.

During the event, I asked Julian Barnes, the Science Coordinator for Roanoke County Schools, how much work goes into planning the Science Fair.  He said, ” it’s an enormous amount of work… it’s almost like planning a wedding.”  Julian went on to say that though “there’s a lot of hurry up and wait during the planning process… this is our pay off day.” And it was a big pay off day for many students in Southwest County.  Check out the winners list below: (Southwest County students are in bold)

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

Chemistry

1. The Effect of Dissolved Oxygen vs. Temperature: Abby Fernatt – Honorable Mention

Heather Humphreys – Sponsor

Northside Middle School

2. The Effects of Caffeine on a Soda Geyser: Heather Garbee – 3rd Place

Heather Humphreys – Sponsor

Northside Middle School

3. Using Pill Bugs As A Bio-indicator of Soil Pollution: Meagan Gillette – 1st Place

Marilee Weikel – Sponsor

Hidden Valley Middle School

4. Dehydration ComPEARison: John Nimmo – 2nd Place

Heather Humphreys – Sponsor

Northside Middle School

Medicine & Health Environmental Sciences

5. Press Play: Analee Huber – 1st Place

Kay Thompson – Sponsor

William Byrd Middle School

6. Boom Boom Pow La De Da: Ellasen Spangler - 2nd Place

Kay Thompson – Sponsor

William Byrd Middle School

Physics

7. The Effect of Different Containers on Temperature of Soda: Jared Arner – 2nd Place

Marilee Weikel – Sponsor

Hidden Valley Middle School

8. How High Can You Go?: Tommy Curro

Kay Thompson – Sponsor

William Byrd Middle School

9. How Ball Weight Affects Pitch Speed: Olivia Honaker – 3rd Place

Marilee Weikel – Sponsor

Hidden Valley Middle School

10. The Effects of Temperature on Battery Life

Lindsey Sarver and Bryanna McRae

Karen Perry-Carroll– Sponsor

Northside Middle School

11. Stickiest Tape: Bradley Mulligan – 1st Place

Kim Sarver – Sponsor

William Byrd Middle School

Plant Sciences

12. Does Different Colored Light Affect Growth of a Plant?: Bryce Amrhein

Heather Humphreys – Sponsor

Northside Middle School

13. What is the effect of household chemicals on plants?: Kathleen Brett – 2nd Place

Alisha Consroe – Sponsor

Cave Spring Middle School

14. Is Rhizobia a green technology for legume production?: Fayja Habib

Alisha Consroe – Sponsor

Cave Spring Middle School

15. The Effect of Colored Lights on Radish Plants: Madelyn Nichols and Ava Harding – 1st Place

Marilee Weikel – Sponsor

Hidden Valley Middle School

16. Pinks, what makes it grow?: Nicholas Young and Jokubas Roseckas

Ron Coleman – Sponsor

Hidden Valley Middle School

High School Division

Engineering

17. Optimization of Rodeo Vests Utilizing Shear Thickening Fluids: Parker Benzie, Sebastian Wellford, and Walker Brand – 2nd Place

Steve Smith – Sponsor

Cave Spring and Hidden Valley High Schools (RVGS)

18. The Utilization of Wind Turbines to Assist Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Kathryn Butler – 3rd Place

Brent Holt – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School (RVGS)

19. Maximizing Electrical Power Output of a Horizontal- Axis Wind Turbine Generator: Kelly Devens – 1st Place

Fredrick Hoffman – Sponsor

Glenvar High School (RVGS)

20. Super Ice: J. J. Recktenwald – Honorable Mention

Jane Johnson – Sponsor

William Byrd High School

Behavioral Sciences

21. Effects of Activity on Blood Glucose Levels on Hypoglycemia: Abby Beatty – 3rd Place

Anne Houston – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

22. Stress and Heart Rate: Samantha Casauay – 2nd Place

Steve Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

23. The Effect of Monistat on CO2 production by Yeast: Joe Lankford – Honorable Mention

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

24. The Effect of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mutations on Sensory Neurons: Zachary Kemp – 1st Place

Linda Hanks – Sponsor

William Byrd High School (RVGS)

Biochemistry

25. Photoreactivation in Yeast: Drew Board -1st Place

Cynthia Bohland – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School (RVGS)

26. The Effect of Electromagnetic Fields on Gonium pectoral Algae: Ryan DeRolf – 2nd Place

Charles Filer – Sponsor

Glenvar High School

27. The Extraction of DNA: Safa Eltaib

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

28. Factors that Affect Bacteria Growth: Jessica Slakman

Anne Houston – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

29. The Effect of Elevated Liver Enzymes: Pami White – 3rd Place 

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

Chemistry

30. The Effect of Different Solutes on Crystal Shape: Mason Early – 3rd Place

Margaret Taylor – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School 

31. Neutralization of Acid in Aspirin Tablets: Veronica Hamilton – 2nd Place

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

32. The Effect of Biomass Source on Biogas Production: Gillian Horn - 1st Place

Steve Smith – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School (RVGS)

33. Mentos-Soda Explosion: Haley Mitchell and Alex Smith

Margaret Taylor – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

Environmental Management

34. Zeus’s Sluice: William Ferguson – 3rd Place

Jane Johnson – Sponsor

William Byrd High School

35. Trash to Treasure: Using Discarded Seashells to Filter Heavy-Metal Contaminated Water: Krysta Luzynski – 1st Place

Steve Smith – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School (RVGS)

36. A Study of Emissions Given Off by Electric Power Plants: Colleen McBride – 2nd Place

Fredrick Hoffman – Sponsor

Northside High School (RVGS)

37. Buffering Capacity of Soil and Moss Against Acid Rain: Sidney McTigue – Honorable Mention

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

Environmental Sciences

38. The Effect of Electromagnetic Exposure on Phaseolus vulgaris: John Apostolou – 1st Place

Melissa Harnist – Sponsor

Northside High School (RVGS)

39. Macro Invertebrate Water Quality Testing: Haley Green and Jimmy Washington – 3rd Place

Charles Filer – Sponsor

Glenvar High School

40. Cellulosic Ethanol Fermentation: Maeve Sedivy – 2nd Place

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

Medicine & Health

41. Enhancing Insulin Secretion through Nanoparticle-Mediated Reconstruction of the Lipid Bilayer: Sachith Gullapalli – 2nd Place

Cindy Bohland – Sponsor

Hidden Valley High School (RVGS)

42. Sunscreen Comparison: To Tan or Not to Tan: Hailey Sitze – 3rd Place

Anne Houston – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

43. Computer Models: Using Computers to Test Cancer Treatments: Ryan Smith and Stuart Whisnant – 1st Place

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

Animal & Plant Sciences

44. Environmental Detection of S. neurona Using Polymerase Chain Reaction: Joseph Cora and Ali Marvi – 2nd Place

Cindy Bohland – Sponsor

Hidden Valley High School (RVGS) and Cave Spring High Schools (RVGS)

45. Photoperiodism and its Effect on Mutant Arabidopsis thaliana Development: Lauren Flores, Alayna Francis, and Ryan Carver – 3rd Place

Stephen Biscotte – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School

46. A Comparison of the Effects of Compost Tea and Synthetic Fertilizer on Turf Grass: Grant Colip and Howard Huang – 1st Place

Sherry Otruba – Sponsor

Linda Gooding – Sponsor

Cave Spring High School (RVGS) Hidden Valley High School 

Congratulations!