Croton-Harmon Students Showcase Science Experiments

From Croton-Harmon School District: Budding scientists from kindergarten through 12th grade showed off the culmination of their hard work at the Croton-Harmon School District’s annual Experience Science, Technology and Innovation Fair on May 4.

The fair, organized by director of technology Deborah August and teachers from each of the schools, allows students to come up with their own projects or experiments to showcase to the community.

This year’s fair also featured a number of hands-on, live events that highlighted engineering and design tutorials, coding and more. A number of school groups and clubs, including the high school’s Programming Club and Pi Squad and representatives from the PVC Innovation and Design Lab, encouraged attendees to get their hands dirty and create their own innovations.

This year, more students than ever elected to participate, and shared their knowledge on topics ranging from robotics to electricity, food waste to bacteria.

PVC sixth-graders displayed and demonstrated some of the projects they created to help solve math problems, like inequalities, proving that you don’t have to be good at math or science to find creative ways to solve problems.

Second-grade students Anna Bogenschutz and Meena Willette used their curiosity about the local wildlife as a starting point for their project.

“We wanted to know what animals come into our backyards because people don’t usually stay up all night to observe [them],” said Bogenschutz.

Using a motion-sensitive camera, the duo was surprised to see animals like opossums, raccoons and white-tailed deer, along with their own domesticated cats, exploring their property at night.

High school seniors Mallory Gray and Sarah Latimer explored composting in a number of ways, from a simple milk carton in the kitchen to a larger-scale, outdoor practice.

“We interviewed people in the industry and were super surprised at how much food waste there is,” said Latimer.

The experiment encouraged the students and their families to cut back on their own food waste at home.
“It really made us conscious of how much we waste,” said Latimer. “It’s cool to see how we can use that waste.”

Photo courtesy of Croton-Harmon School District