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| Middle school prizewinners advance to next level By Stacy Trevenon--[ stacy@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 3:30 PM PST The young winners of the recent Cunha Intermediate School science fair did themselves proud at the next level, at the San Mateo County Science, Math and Technology Fair held at the Hiller Aviation Museum in Redwood City in early February. Twenty-one Cunha students attended the fair, which began with an open house Feb. 6. On the next day, the finalists were interviewed about their work, and awards from the fair and from county groups were presented Feb. 8. "We swept the environmental awards division," said Cunha teacher Lucinda Hitchner. First place was awarded to India Bolding for her project "All Mixed Up? It's a Good Thing," which measured the quality of Princeton harbor water. Bolding also received an Environmental Science/Natural History Award from the San Mateo County League of Women Voters, and a SAGE Award from the Association of Women Geologists. The other first-place winner was Lacey Nelson with "Vaulting: Do You Have What It Takes?" An experienced gymnast, Nelson measured the physics of vaulting. Second-place winners were Maya Blackwell with "Who Would You Kiss?" in which she took swabs of horses' mouths to test bacterial content, and Devon Smith with "Watch the Ball." An avid baseball player, Smith studied the physics of baseball, taking into account the speed of baseballs when hit and other factors. The first- and second-place winners will go on to the regional fair in San Francisco in early April. Other winners included: Third place: Blaine Conroy for "Life on the Edge: A Study of Intertidal Organisms," for which he also won an Environmental Science/Natural History Award from the county League of Women Voters; Sean Correa for "Fact or Fiction: Does Coffee Stunt Growth?" which studied the effects of caffeine on plants; Maggie Galle for "Where's Waldo?" which studied learning under distractions; Mitchell Martin for "Some Like it Hot - But Should They?" in which he studied bacterial growth in hot springs; Claire McHugh for "Tired of Expensive Exploding Diapers" which looked at diapers in a scientific light; Haile Michaels for "Some BUTT-y Cares" in which she measured the effect of cigarette butts on the environment and won a STOPP Water Quality Award; and Jake Spaeth for "Is Off Really Off?", for which he measured the use of electricity in people's homes and for which he received an Environmental Science/Natural History Award from the county League of Women Voters. Honorable mention or fourth-place awards also went to Kevin McCurdy for "What Will Make a Toy Car Fly?" which studied aerodynamics; Laura Steger for "A+ or TVBHS808" which looked at how television affects learning; Jessica Ross for studying the salt content in "Water Around the World." Other top awards that went to the students included the Jerry Trenter Award to Spaeth, the Gil Ellis Environmental Award to Martin and the Grand Prize to Nelson. Runner-up was Michael Paap. |