On March 16, 2024, the 38th Annual Mendocino County Science and Engineering Fair was held at the Mendocino College. There was a large turnout of students presenting all sorts of projects - from comparing types of band-aids, to old time film developing, to how much heat a horse blanket traps. There were 140 total projects. Laytonville students once again showed how awesome they are. We sent six projects to the Mendocino County Science Fair this year.
Our youngest, Sofia Lopez-Amanza, 3rd grade, tested “Making Explosions''. Her project was every little kid's dream. She made a volcano, found the best ratio of baking soda to vinegar, and then made it erupt. If you try this at home be sure to put the baking soda in before the vinegar, it makes a bigger explosion.
Olivette Russell, 6th grade, was testing if the yeast in a sourdough starter would respond to different sugars. “Does Your Sourdough Starter Have a Sweet Tooth?” was a well done project that resulted in a lot of tasty bread, some sweeter than others.
Lennox Zentner, 6th grade, compared different types of wood tinder using his bushcraft skills. In “Bushcraft Wood Tinder”, he shaved and dried three different types of wood, made his own char cloth, and set it on fire to see which wood was the best to start and keep a flame. Pitchy pine won that battle hands down.
Joelle Skinner, 7th grade, was searching for a partner plant to help the mighty redwood get through our California droughts. With “Condensation is Key”, she partnered redwood saplings with other plants, in a closed environment, to see which pairing would make the most condensation. The plants could then use the condensation to water themselves.
Arabella Doyle, 8th grade, was thinking of a thrifty way to help us protect ourselves during fire season. A few years back, you may have heard of a fire fighting foam that you could apply around your house when fire was imminent. It is some expensive stuff. She wanted to see if a homemade version would work just as well. With “Foam to Fire”, she made a homemade firefighting foam from a mixture of dish soap, borax, and glycerin. She acquired some commercial foam that was donated by Cal Fire. She built some small fires and put them out using the two different types of fire foam. The homemade and commercial foams took almost the same amount of time to extinguish the flames.
Tyler Knight, 9th grade, dabbled with glass and fire. He made “The Prince’s Drops”. I had never heard of Prince Rupert’s drops before, so I found this interesting. He tested to see if the liquid used to cool the drops would affect how well the drops formed. After getting some advice from a glassblower in Fort Bragg, he melted the glass and tested the resulting drops for hardness of the bulb end and shattering ability of the tail end.
Now for the results of the fair. Joelle and Olivette did not place but both scored very high in their category of 6th-8th grade Life Science, each receiving a Superior ribbon, meaning they scored not less than 91 out of 100 points. That was a very tough, close category. Sofia placed third in her category of 3rd-5th grade Physical Science. Tyler placed first in his category of 9th-12th grade Physical Science. Lennox and Arabella were both in the category 6th-8th grade Physical Science. Lennox received first place and Arabella received second place. They both also advanced to the California Science and Engineering Fair, which is the statewide competition. Arabella also received an award from UC ANR Hopland Research & Extension Center, which comes with some pretty cool perks.
I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the three wonderful members of our community who dedicated their entire morning to evaluate and score the projects presented at our school fair. Bruce Potter, Heidi Wilson, and Michelle Hill, thank you so much for your knowledge and sharing it with these young scientists. Thank you also to Mariah Fogarty, Sarah Evans, Gaea Reid, and Raquel Thomson who volunteered their entire day to judging at the county level along with so many others. I also want to thank the parents for trusting me to guide these wonderful students through the process. I went into this year not really not feeling it, but these kids, with their bright ideas and ambitions brought back my excitement. I am not ashamed to say I was probably the loudest person cheering. Thanks for another exciting and successful year.
Norma Cox
Laytonville Science Fair Coordinator