Hazelwood West and Russell Elementary Students Earn Ribbons at St. Louis Science Fair

Dirty water is what led fifth grader Alexandra Cafolla  to her ribbon.

“My parents gave me a water filter kit for Christmas, so I got the idea from that,” she said. “I hypothesized sand would filter the water best and my research verified that.”

Alexandra used motor oil and soil to tap water. According to a Hazelwood School District statement, she said active carbon filtered the second best and gravel filtered third best.

She earned a blue ribbon and special recognition from MEMC, an area semiconductor and solar power company at the Academy of Science's 2012 St. Louis Science Fair. She nameed her project, “Filtering Dirty Water.”

Alexandra along with students from four other schools in the (HSD) earned ribbons at the science fair. Students from Brown Elementary, Hazelwood Central Middle, and Jury received robbons ranging from blue, red, green or white. The colors denote first, second, third or fourth place.

The Experiments

At Hazelwood Central Middle School, sixth grader Sydney Jones’ experiment, “In Which Liquid Will a Crystal Grow Best?” earned her a blue ribbon.

Classmates Nyla Reed, Kayla Robinson and Autumn Graves worked together on “Which Citrus Fruit Will Generate the Most Electricity?” They discovered an orange generated the most electricity, 4.5 volts.

At Jury Elementary, fifth grade students Colby Rhine and Michael Tillman and fourth grade students Sean Grimmett, Daniel Ray and Christina Richards all earned ribbons.

At Brown Elementary, fifth grader Stanley Williams earned a blue ribbon for “Can Cooked Beans Grow?” He said he tried to determine if bacteria can affect bean plant growth.

Second grader Annelise Dace earned a blue ribbon for “Do Different Liquids Have Different Sounds?” She tested rubbing alcohol, corn syrup, milk, water and salt water.

Brown third grader Morgan McKenzie earned a white ribbon for her experiment, “You Are What You Eat.”

Russell and West Earners

Russell Elementary also had fifth grade individual and classroom winners. As well, All three kindergarten classes won blue ribbons for their projects - “Whoops!” “Can We Save Humpty Dumpty?” and “Whew! What a Great Fall!”

Fifth grade individual and classroom winners include:

• “Let’s Get Crunchin’” is Holly Withington’s blue ribbon experiment to discover the amount of grease in potato chips.
• Breleigh Mann’s project, “Purple Power,” which experimented with acids and bases. 
• “Burn, Light Bulb, Burn” is Miriam Neimand’s red ribbon project. She connected a flashlight bulb to three types of alkaline batteries to see which one powered the bulb the longest.
• Tanner Whitworth hit a home run with his project, earning a blue ribbon for “Going Forward, Going Back, Going, Going, Gone.” He hit baseballs at Koch Park in Florissant with three different types of bats – wood, older aluminum and newer aluminum models to learn which type would hit a ball the farthest. 
• Madison Kennett’s project is “Traveling Sound.” She said sh wanted to prove cups and coils of wire would send vibrations.
• Jacob Presnell earned a green ribbon for “How Much Has Eroded?” which tested what happens to pennies immersed in various soda pops.

earned a green ribbon for “What Colors Help Us Learn?”