by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
The start of Catholic Schools week at All Saints Academy offered visitors a chance to view students’ Science Fair projects Jan. 26.
School Administrator Karl Terhaar said 44 projects were on display in Heritage Hall.
First-grade teacher Joanne Schneider said kindergarten through third-grade students were able to view the projects earlier.
“They are amazing projects,” Schneider said. “The children worked very hard and the Heritage Hall space is a nice place for the displays.
Tyler Meyer, 18, came to view the projects his siblings had worked on. Tyler is a senior at Cathedral High School and has two siblings Josie and Max who attend ASA.
“I love looking at these,” Meyer said. “It brings back a lot of memories.”
Meyer’s grandmother, Josie Meyer, also attended the fair. Meyer, 84, said a wood-splitting-project display brought back memories of when she used to ride the sleigh and help her father split wood.
Lance Harren is a sixth-grader who did his project on wood splitting. He chose this topic because he helps his father and uncle split wood after school. He said the family just bought a new wood boiler and it saves them a lot of money.
While doing his project he learned that ash wood splits easier than pine wood which he had thought would split easier.
“I thought it was very interesting,” Harren said. “My dad and brother all had fun helping me with the project.”
Fifth-grader Josie Meyer researched roof colors to see if colors effected the temperature of the house. Her grandmother needs a new roof on her house and she thought this would be a fun project. Meyer worked with the colors of white, green, blue, red and black.
Her grandmother who is also named Josie Meyer said she hadn’t yet decided what color she was going to choose. She said she would probably choose something that matched the color of her house.
Sixth-grader Carter Botz did his project on basketball because he’s a huge sports fan and it’s the middle of the basketball season. He questioned if surface and air pressure affected the bounce of a basketball and discovered basketballs bounced best on wood laminate floors with no base underneath.
“The experiment was fun,” Botz said. “I did eight or nine tests before the actual experiment.”
Sixth-grader Andrew Weisser also did his experiment about basketball. He wondered if using backspin improved his chances of making a basket. He was surprised to learn it did help to put backspin on the ball.
“I learned it wasn’t that bad to do a big project and I really enjoyed it because I am really in to basketball,” Weisser said.
Fifth-grade teacher Tess Koltes said students used “Google Drive” and “EasyBib” to work on papers and their bibliographies. She said this allowed teachers to view and offer suggestions as students worked on their projects.
Mike, Tyler and Josie Meyer (left to right) viewed ASA students’ science fair projects.
Sixth-grader Lance Harren learned that ash wood splits easier than pine wood does.
Fifth-grader Josie Meyer shows her grandmother also named Josie Meyer her project about roofing colors.
Carter Botz (right) discusses his basketball project with Linda Heinen.
Andrew Weisser discovered from his project that creating backspin improved his chances of making a basket.
