Sultan down to a science

This year Rachael Carroll learned her pets track in twice as much bacteria after a walk as they had prior to leaving the house.

She didn’t read the fact in a book, find it online or hear it from a friend. The sixth-grader swabbed paws, tested hundreds of samples and spent countless hours in the Sultan Middle School lab. It took patience, commitment and a strong stomach; she also found salmonella, staph and E. Coli swimming in the petri dishes.

“I actually really liked it,” she said of the hefty workload.

Carroll was among dozens of Sultan School District students who went to the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair held in Bremerton last month. Students won first-place in two age groups — fourth-through-sixth and seventh-through-eighth grades — took first and second in many categories, and received one of four “School of the Year” awards, which are based on participation and performance.

Science teacher Dr. Brian Pinkerton said the idea started with SMS principal Nathan Plummer. He said Pinkerton is the reason kids got involved. Either way, they agree it was historic.

Pinkerton said last year was the first time the middle school participated in the fair, which celebrated its 62nd year this spring. Projects start in the classroom, and must follow the scientific method. Students define a hypothesis, develop an effective experiment and present the results.

“Our kids come out and they feel like scientists,” Pinkerton said. 

Science teacher Tamela Eichenberger was awed by the questions her students came up with. This is her first year at the school, and partnering with Pinkerton. The first test was the school’s second annual science fair on Jan. 24-25.

Nearly 200 projects were entered, Eichenberger said. Kids went it alone and in teams. She said anyone who placed first or received a recommendation from their teacher qualified for state.

Middle school educators also touted the response from families and the community. While there was no cap on spending, most projects were done at minimal cost. The school provided the tri-boards for presenting. Labs, classrooms and extra help were readily available.

The Sultan Schools Foundation covered the $2,500 in registration fees for all students who went to state, Pinkerton said. An anonymous donor gave $1,000, and other groups gave large sums as well, he said.

“We wanted it to be as close to free as possible,” Eichenberger said.

This year she saw students who struggled to pass their classes excel at the topics they chose. One built a Tesla generator for less than $20. Seventh-grader Joshua Madrigal targeted climate change.

Madrigal said he wanted to pursue something out of the ordinary. He started studying different atmospheric principals, and decided to focus on the role thermohaline currents play in global warming and cooling. What he found was striking.

The deep ocean currents, which are powered by temperature and salinity, are historically prone to collapse, Madrigal said. An ice age will eventually result. What is concerning now is how quickly the symptoms of changes in the current are occurring, he said.

The state fair goes beyond competition.

Pinkerton said Madrigal’s proposal drew attention from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A scientist plans to help him flesh out his research next year. Agencies, organizations and businesses send representatives to scope out what ideas the younger generations can come up with, he said.

Some kids finished projects with results that had practical applications. Others took the chance to view a favorite pastime from another angle.

Seventh-grader Paige McKay designed a homemade cooling pack. She wanted to work with chemicals, specifically endothermic reactions. She hoped to develop a product that lasts longer than the average 5-10 minutes store-bought items offer.

Donald Bridgewater leveraged an interest in chainsaws. He took timber from alder, maple and hemlock trees in his backyard, and tested each for how easily they could be cut. Sultan is a logging town after all, he added.

Briana Benavidez braved the task of growing tomatoes in winter. She tracked growth in different dirts, including some with compost and commercial organic soil. She found the former worked far better. She and her mother plan to apply the results for a favorite pastime — gardening together.

Plummer said his students were being modest when it came to talking about their projects. Bridgewater, Benavidez, Carroll and a handful of other students received Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public awards.

He said he wasn’t surprised by this or last year’s results. He knows his kids have it in them — they just need the right guidance. It takes a passionate team of educators to pull out the great ideas and get them engaged and excited, he said.

Pinkerton said he hopes the trend will continue. Science fairs can teach students valuable skills. Working on long-term projects is becoming increasingly less common, he said.

The curriculum can be designed so it aligns with state standards as well, Pinkerton said. One day he hopes nearby school districts will get involved, so regional fairs can be held.