Central Lee shines at conference science fair

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

WEST BURLINGTON - In just a couple of hours Monday morning you could have experienced some of the finest in scholastic science inquiries and some of our local talent were among the tops.

HTC Science Fair coordinator Ernie Schiller has been helping the Holy Trinity Catholic students prepare for the exhibit and also coordinated the school fair last week. Holy Trinity was the host school for the event held at Westland Mall Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. featuring seven schools including Central Lee, Danville, HTC, Pekin, Van Buren, New London and Winfield-Mt. Union.

Central Lee came away with three grand champions out of four divisions: Junior High Biological Science, Junior High Physical Science, Senior High Biological and Senior High Physical.

One of Holy Trinity's projects was by sophomore Emily Box, who was navigating PH levels in saliva of diabetic and non-diabetic people to see if the PH levels had an impact on Hemoglobin A1c numbers, which is an indication of how well diabetes is being managed as well as looking at ways to help with cavities of diabetics who usually have a lower PH level in their saliva, which can lead to cavities.

"I just wanted to see if brushing with a baking soda toothpaste helped people with diabetes because if you're diabetic you tend to have a lower PH level saliva and that allows for cavities to occur," Box said Monday.

"Brushing with baking soda would help with that lower level of PH and help the fight off cavities. But I also wanted to see if they usually have lower or higher levels of PH. Diabetics with a 6.0 - 6.9 A1c will have higher PH levels in their saliva compared to the 8.0 to 8.9 level. The 7-0 to 7.9 level is pretty controlled and on average those people had a more neutral level," she said.

Non diabetic people average a 5.7 level, according to her research.

Holy Trinity senior Josh Pieper presented on the effects of vitamin B and Variable Feed rates on piglet birth rates. Pieper finished fifth in the Senior Biological Sciences division. Box finished 8th with her project.

At the junior high levels, 15 HTC projects were presented by 23 students. Central Lee had nine senior high projects at the fair and a whopping 37 junior high projects at the fair.

Gavin Moeller took Grand Champion in the Junior Physical with a project on water purity, while Brooke Finney took Grand Champion in the Senior Biological division with a project called "Calling it Quits - Phase II" while Lily Fuger took Grand Champion in the Senior Physical Division with her project "Evaluation of the Leaching of BPA from Preservative Plastic Coatings: Phase III".

Complete results from the fair are listed below.

Category: Junior Biological

Grand Champion: Kayla Livesay, Van Buren, How Macronutrients Affect the Growth and Yield of Plants

1st-place tie - Xandra Abel, Central Lee, Biomimicry; Serenity Haynes, Central Lee, How Much Bacteria are on Restaurant Menus

3rd-place tie - Brianna Gruntmeir, Central Lee, Close En-Counter Of The Bacterial Kind; Macy Watkins, Phytoremediation: Elodea vs Duckweed; Ryan Wolf, Van Buren, The Effects of Cover Crops on Soybean size (weight)

6th-place Style Haeffner, Danville, Analyzing the Differences in the Biomass of Soy Beans When Growing in Different Growing Densities

7th-place tie - Kassi Randolph, Holy Trinity, Bacteria on Sterilonization; Sarah Eubanks, Pekin, Child Proof Containers; Shea Scott and McKenna Caviness, Van Buren, Scientifically Extracting DNA from Strawberries

10th-place tie -Aaron Plecker, Van Buren, I See You, Do You See Me? Phase ll; Emma Charbonneau, Van Buren, Battle of the Senses, Taste vs Smell; Hailey Alvis, Central Lee, Lighting Up Brassica Rapa; Hannah Charbonneau, Van Buren, Disinfecting Pathogens in Contaminated Water; Kaitlyn Glosser, Pekin, How Do You Learn?; Kaylin Tuttle, Van Buren, Dissecting the Bank Shot; Laura Mehmert, Kayla Box and Alexa Dingman, Holy Trinity, Proteins vs. Carbs; Levi Gaines, Pekin, Does Blue Make You Smarter?

Category: Junior Physical

Grand Champion: Gavin Moeller, Central Lee, Water Purity

1st-place tie - Aleaya Klesner, Central Lee, Environmental Water Problems; Claire Wills, Central Lee, To Dissolve or not to Dissolve that is the Question Phase: III; Grant Anderson and Keating Fuger, Central Lee, Solar air heater

4th-place tie - Isabel Manning, Van Buren, Measuring the Thermodynamics of Roof Colors; Zephan Abel, Central Lee, Preserving a Georgia Hot

6th-place - Reece Kracht, Van Buren, Preserving a Georgia Hot

7th-place - Treyton Bainbridge, Flammable Fabrics

8th-place - Jacob Hohl and Gannon Wells, Central Lee, Fruit Freshness

9th-place - Bryce Winslow, Oil Efficiency in Engines

10th-place - Pierson Westfall, Central Lee, How Clean Is Clean?

Category: Senior Biological

Grand Champion: Brooke Finney, Central Lee, Calling It Quits: Phase 2

1st-place - Lauren Starnes, Van Buren, The Effects of Breast Milk on Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus

2nd-place - Jolie Harryman, The Long-Term Effects of Chemical and Organic Fertilizer on Soil Productivity and Quality; Kamryn Banks, Van Buren, The Observation of Acid Precipitation with Planktonic Crustaceans and the Bioremediation of Freshwater Pollutants using Lemna minor; Mackenzie Winslow, Van Buren, How Facial Cleansers Affect Escherichia coli and Sebum Phase II

5th-place - Josh Pieper, Holy Trinity, The Effect of Vitamin B and Variable Feed Rates on Piglet Birth Rate

6th-place - Brooklyn Pardall, Central Lee, The Analysis of Iowa's Honeybees and the Effects of Apis Mellifera on Glycine Max

7th-place - Madison Barnhardt, Central Lee, Phase III: There's a Science Experiment in my Stomach

8th-place - Andrea Hockenberry, Winfield Mt. Union, Observations of the Effects of Dissolved Oxygen and Nitrate on Betta splendens Behavior; Emily Box, Holy Trinity, HbA1c, Biocarbonate Dentifrice, & the Potential of Hydrogen; Kortney Banks, Van Buren, The Bioremediation of Polluted Environments with the Application of Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Chlamydomonas reinhardi Algae

Category: Senior Physical Science

Grand Champion: Lily Fuger, Central Lee, Evaluation of the Leaching of BPA from Preservative Plastic Coatings: Phase III

1st-place - Aaron Wills, Central Lee, Engineered Environmental Containment: Using Lemna minor L. to Reduce Nitrate Levels in Aquatic Environments

2nd-place - Summer Smith, Central Lee, Reducing Phosphates in Natural Waterways: Phase IV

3rd-place - Rebecca Pilcher and Christian Douthart, Van Buren, Hydrogen: The New Age Renewable Energy Source

4th-place - Mason Porter and Isaac McSorley, New London, Electrolytes in sports drinks

5th-place - Mattia Hanusch and Jalen Birdsell, New London, Different Milk - Different Ice Cream?

6th-place - Joseph Carpenter, New London, Bernoulli Investigation

7th-place - Nathan Lemmon and Tyler Henecks, New London, Gathering Electricity from Air

8th-place - Elijah Johnson, New London, Which fabric blocks UV light best?

9th-place - Roberto Carrillo and Douglas Humphrey, New London, Ready, Set, Glow

10th-place - Dawson Butterbaugh and Gaige Callas-Job, New London, Which milk makes the fluffiest pancakes?

Inspiring Excellence Awards

Five Student Awards at $20.00 each; Hannah Leech - Central Lee; Paisley Grafton - Central Lee; Brooklynn Cormier - Van Buren; Ellie Herdrich - Central Lee; Joshua Ellis - Central Lee

Student Award at $50.00 - Brooklyn Pardall - Central Lee

Teacher Award at $75.00 -Ernest Schiller - Holy Trinity Catholic School Sponsor

SEISC Science Fair 2017 Special Awards

Pollinator Award sponsored by the Tull Honey Farm $50 - Brooklyn Pardall – CL

Engineering Award sponsor: Bernie McCauley Foundation $50 - Aaron Wills- CL

Biological Science Award sponsored by Ernie Schiller

1st - $50 Kamryn Banks - VB; 2nd - $25 Jolie Harryman - VB; 2nd - $25 Collum Beebe - VB

Physical Science Award sponsored by Lon Rosine $100 - Lily Fuger - CL

HTC's Bella Poppe talks with several judges about the project she and her partner Mya Schmitz did on determining the sugar quantity in soda. PCC Photo by Chuck Vandenberg.

HTC sophomore Emily Box stands next to her board on the effects of baking soda toothpaste on the PH levels of the saliva of diabetic people. PCC photo by Chuck Vandenberg.

Former Fort Madison opthalmologist Larry Smith talks with Van Buren's Isabel Manning about her project that investigated the effect of roof colors on thermodynamics at Monday's SEISC Science Fair at Westland Mall. Smith was volunteering as a judge for the event. PCC photo by Chuck Vandenberg.

central lee, Danville, Ernie Schiller, Holy Trinity Catholic, New London, Pekin, science fair, Van Buren, Westland Mall, Winfield-Mt. Union

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