Fair helps spark student interest in science

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 11, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Grade 5 student Atley Eherer presents her Lipstick Test project to judge Rebecca Birch during the 7th annual Science Fair Thursday at St. Teresa of Calcutta School.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Students, staff and members of the community had the opportunity to enjoy the seventh annual St. Teresa of Calcutta School’s science fair Thursday with projects from students in Grades 1 to Grade 6.

Science Fair organizer Annie Greeno said a science fair has been staged every year since the school opened its doors in 2017.

“We have it from Grades 1 to 6 and we start with our science fair club in January and the students work completely at home on them, and then they bring them in here and we have our lovely judges come in and talk to the students,” said Greeno.

She said the idea is for the students to learn about the scientific process, having fun with science, being curious and getting them to enjoy science.

“That’s our main focus, but there are awards that we give out for first, second, and third place for our grade level. Grades 1 and 2 get judged together, Grades 3 and 4 get judged together and Grades 5 and 6 get judged together and there are three medals in each one,” said Greeno.

One of the judges present at the Science Fair was Rebecca Birch, who judged Grade 5 student Atley Eherer’s project Lipstick Test and said she really enjoyed her presentation.

“She did a really good job and she had all of her information really well- organized. She checked all the boxes, plus her project was interesting,” said Birch.

She said Eherer tested the longevity of lipstick based on the price and had all her information laid out in tables. Multiple tests were done and she was very thorough with her research.

 “She had Dollar Store, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Sephora lipsticks and she wanted to see which one was the most durable,” said Birch.

 She said Eherer liked the one from Sephora, but she discovered through her project that the one from the Dollar Store lasted almost as long.

 “She said science-wise, considering the Dollar Store is only a dollar, and it lasted just about as long as the other ones, she said it was a really good deal. She did a really good job,” said Birch.

Students had the opportunity to present to their peers after being judged, and after school the science fair was open to the public.

“This year we have 25 projects and that’s about average what we usually have,” said Greeno.

She said they had students walk through the science fair to get them interested into joining next year as well as to help them realize it was not a scary project.

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