Science Fair concludes with Awards Ceremony

One of the academic year’s most popular events, the 2011 Healdsburg , concluded last week with the Awards Ceremony at the Villa on Thursday evening, March 31. After two days of public display at the Villa, the award-winners in numerous categories were announced, including the coveted “John Max Award” for Best of Show, which this year went to Healdsburg Junior High 8^th grader Michael Beard.

Last year, the same award went to his older sister , but little brother won this time for his project “The Hard Science of Airsoft.” He measured the penetration distance of BB’s into blocks of gelatin. 

The runner-up “Dean Darby Award” went to Ursuline High School Senior Katelynne Rettig for her project “A+ or Bust,” an experiment to determine which environments were most conducive to studying.  (Ironically, male students fared best in a gym locker room.)

The purpose of the fair is to encourage student learning, exploration and interest in math, science, engineering and technology. Science experiments provide students with the opportunity to conduct a Life or Physical Science experiment using the scientific method: Question-Hypothesis-Experiment-Analysis-Conclusion.

Another key event this year was the Rube Goldberg Machines competition, competed Saturday, March 25 at Healdsburg Junior High. Teams from elementary schools, the junior high and high school competed in separate challenges to build a multi-step machine based on the imaginative engineering concepts of cartoonist Rube Goldberg.

Winners included Healdsburg High School students Miranda Cook, Haily Roehrick, Saskia Tingey, and  Kelcie Sackett who took first place with their entry "Wild West," a project to water a plant in 20 or more steps. The Junior High School challenge was to serve a snack to the judges in 10 or more steps, and Healdsburg Junior High eighth graders Robby Shiffer, Juan Carlos Garcia, and Rhett Dale won with their machine “Rangers.” The Elementary School winning team was comprised of St John’s 4^th graders Jacob Numainville, Kieran Price, Joey Seghesio, Hannah Line with their “Green Dog Food Machine, ” designed to feed a pet in 5 or more steps. 

There were many additional awards given to participating students, including the best Environmental Project sponsored by Sonoma Technology, and outstanding projects in the fields of Botany and Mycology (fungi and mushrooms) presented by Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA).

A complete list of award winners, runners-up and honorable mention is expected to be published in the this week.

At the Science Fair awards ceremony,  the words of Dr. Dean Darby, long a judge at the fair and the namesake of the runner-up award, were cited:

“Science is not about winning.  It is about the process of learning, discovery, reasoning, conclusion and application.   It’s about problem solving, a process you should learn because life is about solving problems. In life a person with problem solving skills will succeed while one that lacks these skills is at a great disadvantage.  So even if you did not get an award, you are a winner if you learn the lessons of the scientific method so you can apply it to the problems of life.”

The Science Fair is always in need of volunteers for judging, fund raising, organization, mentoring, committee leadership, etc.   Individuals, including students, who would like to be involved in next year’s fair should contact Science Fair Chairperson Mike Scrobonia at 707-473-2244.