On February 10, Bellwood-Antis PJAS competitors traveled to Saint Francis University to present their scientific experiments. Out of the 7 presenters, 6 earned first place.
Damien Barnett, Ian Clark, Noah Cokrlic, Chance Hawk, Eric Johnson, and Hunter Shura earned first place awards and Jonny Bickel received second place.
The following experiments were performed by Damien Barnett, Jonny Bickel, Ian Clark, Noah Cokrlic, Chance Hawk, Eric Johnson, and Hunter Shura, respectively: Which fruit makes the best battery, is ESP real, does Coke or Pepsi labels affect taste, does talking to plants help them grow, which fin design enables a rocket to go the highest, which bread molds the slowest, and which fishing line is the strongest.
Each of the competitors had to present and discuss their experiments to a panel of judges, which created a pressurized situation.
“At first, the whole experience was stressful,” said Damien Barnett, the lone senior of the group. “With building a presentation that’s up to standard and going beyond that, it almost made me want to back out. Once we got to the university, I was very anxious, but seeing how many people were there definitely helped with the stress.”
The team is advised by Mr. Goodman and Ms. Shimmel.
Many of the competitors said they enjoyed moving around the competition to look at other people’s exhibits.
“My experience was incredible by seeing other’s experiments and walking around the station,” said Eric Johnson, who won first award in the competition.
Others found time to participate in activities around campus that coincided with the PJAS event.
“They had a few activities there, like trivia, making ice cream with liquid nitrogen, and making planes with Solo cups,” Ian Clark said.
All participants who received first will go on to the state competition held in Penn State University Park in May.
In PJAS, the award system is not competitive, but rather a scoring system based on a rubric that has a list of requirements and specifications for students to meet. The students had to show scientific thought, experimental methods, an analytical approach, and a clear presentation. As long as a student could meet all the expectations, multiple first awards are possible.
Congratulations to all the participants who presented! Good luck to those who will be advancing to State Competition!
