St. Rocco Science Fair Exhibits Student Creativity

On Feb. 17, parents and teachers filled the hall at for the school's annual science fair, as 114 students in grades 6 through 8 presented their displays and hoped to be one of six winners who will compete in the Rhode Island Science and Engineering Fair on March 26 and 27 at the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick.

"The science projects were a 12-week process," said eighth-grade science teacher Kerrie Crins-Driscoll, adding the students did a hypothesis, tested their throeies, and wrote a research paper on their findings.

Crins-Driscoll, who has been a science teacher at St. Rocco for six years, explained that the students did most of the work at home, with Fridays reserved as science fair days, allowing the students to improve their papers and ask any questions they may have had. The students were also graded weekly on their progress, she noted.

Many of the topics covered were related to the environment.

Eighth-grader Stephen Estrada, also a member of the school's National Honor Junior Society, went on a mission to find out if his tap water was safe.

"I bought a baby-checking lead kit on line called Abotz Lead testing kit," said Estrada. "Before 1982 houses had lead pipes, before they were changed to copper piping."

Through his experiment, Estrada said he found a lead concentration of less than one part per million per milliliter.

Julia Pezzullo, grade 8, who placed third in the science fair, said she was concerned about the environment and future generations.

Pezzullo explained how she went to the Rhode Island Resource Center in Johnston and found out a plastic bag stays around for 1,000 years. She also went to area supermarkets to find out if they use reuseable bags; customers at Whole Foods in Cranston use reusable bags about 30 percent of the time, while Stop & Shop, Shaws and Dave's Fresh Marketplace shoppers use 10 to 11 percent reuseable bags.

Some of the other projects focused on practical questions.

Naja Sasa, grade 6, named her project: "Which Method Keeps Cut Flowers Freshest the Longest?"

"I had two vases and tested them for six weeks, " said Sasa, explaining that she used different solutions for roses — the first vase had water and crushed aspirin, while the second vase had water, sugar, lemon juice and bleach.

The second vase was better at preserving the roses, Sasa found.

Seventh-grader Alexis Arsenis was curious about what happens  to people when they get diabetes.

"My father already had a kit to test for diabetes," said Arsenis, "so I tested my mom and dad's blood everyday with the needle and wrote down the numbers."

Armani Henderson, and eighth-grader who has been playing on youth baseball teams for several years, set out to find the differences between an aluminum bat and a composite bat, which is basically an aluminum handle wrapped around an insert made of carbon composite material.

"Twice a week, I went to Extra Innings in Warwick and hit balls with an aluminum and composite bat," said Henderson, who found more of a "pop" with the composite example.

The six winners from St. Rocco will be among more than 525 students who will compete at the state science fair, which is open to the public on March 27 after a day of judging set for March 26.