CHESHIRE, Mass. — The entire eighth-grade class at Hoosac Valley Middle School competed in Friday's Science & Engineering Fair and 72 projects were displayed.
The science fair had it all — from trebuchets and fruit ripeness detectors to even an animatronic wolf head.
"There is a really nice variety of projects and I am happy to see a larger number of engineering projects," science teacher Mindy Chapman said. "It is great for them to learn these time-management skills and it preps them for high school and beyond."
Chapman said the top scoring 15 projects will go on to compete at the Region 1 Science & Engineering Fair held every year at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
The 118 students in the class could work independently or in groups and have been working on their projects for 10 weeks.
Chapman said the science fair forces students to use their problem-solving skills.
"The part of school that I feel is really important and you don't always have time to do it is problem-solving," she said. "These skills will help them in college and in life."
Matthew Tasson and Hannah Richardson wanted to see if they could charge a cell phone with citrus.
"We wanted to see if lemons could charge a standard phone," Tasson said. "I have heard that any fruit with acidic juices in it can carry electricity and we wanted to know why."
Richardson said they used galvanized nails as conductors to plug into the lemons and, for the record, 12 lemons are more than enough fruit to charge a cell phone.
"We got to 1 percent then we bumped it up to 12 lemons and it fried it," she said.
Ella Donovan and Zack Moran wanted to see if hydroponic gardening was better than soil gardening and grew some rosemary plants in water.
"I just have always gardened with my grandparents and I wanted to see if this was different," Donovan said. "It was completely different."
Donovan said one thing she learned was that hydroponic isn't as new as many people think.
"Everyone says that hydroponics is a new thing but the people in Babylon had them and that was a while ago," she said.
Christina Fortier brought a wolf mask to life.
"Usually I go around town in a suit in places like hospitals and different festivals," she said. "I wanted to bring it further. I kind of want to work in engineering and I wanted to make something better for people that will make them happy."
With the help of Carter Haas and Justin Halley from robotics, she was able to make the wolf's ears move, install a fan for air circulation and even light up the eyes.
Fortier said it was a great learning experience
"I learned so much from this and I learned all of the terms," she said. "I know how to get something to work and I know what I am doing."
Hailey Boulger and Janayah Williams also centered their project on gardening and wanted to see what the fastest way to kill a plant was: straight tap water, vinegar or baking soda.
"I was really interested in the topic and I wanted to compare the plants," Williams said. "It was interesting to see which one would last the longest."
Boulger said their hypothesis was correct and the acidity of the vinegar killed off the plant right away, but she was surprised that the plant with baking soda outlived the tap water plant.
"The plant with the baking soda lasted the longest," Boulger said. "I think it is because baking soda is used in a lot of food and it keeps the soil going."
There was a three-way tie for first place:
Isaac Herrmann and Tyler Norcross' project "Ripe or Raw? A Circuit to Detect Ripe Fruit"
Ashlee Davis' project "Picture Perfect"
Lillian Boudreau's project "Erosion in Motion."
• Natalie Pompi and Alyssa Garabedian's project "Cheesecake Methods" won second place.
• Third place was Mackenzie Lesnick and Alexis Taylor's project "Tracking Geomagnetic Storms in the Ionosphere"
Honorable Mentions:
Christina Fortier: "Animatronic Studies"
Matthew Tassone and Hannah Richardson: "Sour Power"
Hannah Brassard: "Building a Gel Electrophoresis Chamber"
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