Science Fair Draws Students from 17 High Schools
 Abby Powers of Pittsfield High School explains how she and teammates Kelly Belknap and Julie Cutler created a clip to keep your glasses from falling off. |
Drury High School students Brittany Shepherd and Gabrielle Gauthier picked up a third place on Friday afternoon at the Region 1 Science Fair for their research into how music can help you sleep better.
The girls found six volunteers — their mothers and a teacher, and three students — to spend their nights listening to country or hip hop or metal and synth.
Their conclusion: Metal won't give you sweet dreams.
Country and hip hop have something in common, said Shepherd. "They're both under 120 beats a minute and don't change their tempo" while metal and synth have faster beats and "keep changing all over the place."
The experiment proved their hypothesis that soothing music helps you sleep better, said Gauthier.
It also proved they have what it takes to move on to the state Science and Engineering Fair at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April.
More than 110 experiments by students representing 17 high schools filled the gymnasium in the Amsler Campus Center at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. They covered improvements in everyday objects, such as the catfood dispenser that won McCann Technical students Kristin Euchler and Emily Serrano a second-place and a special award, to the speculations on artificial neural networks that won a first place for Westfield High School's Andrew Ellis.
It was the largest science fair the college has hosted so far, with nearly double the number of high schools as last year and more than 150 students.
 Matt Boulger, left, and Zach Richards of Drury thought freezing a paintball would make it more dangerous. They proved themselves 'completely wrong.' |
Allen made participation in the fair part of his honors course a couple years ago and is increasing familiarity with scientific research by having some of his other classes compete in a school fair.
The benchmark was set three years ago, he said, when the only two Drury students who participated excelled. One, Zach Remillard, now at Williams, went on to compete in the international science fair.
"I think what the kids get out of a science fair is extremely important because it exposes them to the real world of what science is about it," said Allen. "It offers them the opportunity to work on a project that might lead to an eventual career."
You never where your path will lead, keynote speaker Jennifer Bailey told the students. The 1990 Drury High graduate earned her chemistry degree from Carleton College in Minnesota.
"I wanted to find a real problem and find a real solution, something that would make a difference to people," she said, but found her path turning less toward pure research and more toward application and business in a field she hadn't expected. She became an engineer and lab manager for Sonoscan, a Chicago manufacturer of acoustic microscopes; soon, she was training customers and working with marketing. She now runs the company's Northeast office.
 Alyssa Desmarais, left, and Kaitlin Chambers of Westfield High wondered if Otis Reservoir was ripe for a zebra mussel invasion. It is, but the risk is higher at other lakes. |
Molly Sullivan, a 2009 graduate of Pittsfield High School, whose experimental pet scratcher with teammates Jamie Dickhaus and Caitlyn White won the patent award at the 2007 state fair, urged her peers to "put your heart and soul into everything you do because later on you will really appreciate everything that you've done."
The big winner at the fair was Westfield State College, which took home one of the two first-place awards, six second-place awards and two thirds. Pittsfield and Taconic high schools both had good participation, picking up several thirds and seconds and a number of special awards. Pittsfield's Brittany Douglas, Allegra Chin and Christine Osimo won the Navy Award for "Greener with Gasoline."
  Scientist and Drury graduate Jennifer Bailey told students to 'expect the unexpected.' Molly Sullivan, a 2009 PHS graduate, told them they'll appreciate their tough teachers once they're in college. |
MCLA, which hosted the fair for several years in its role as lead partner in the Berkshire Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Pipeline, offered pre-applications to all the participating students.
"This is an accomplishment. You and your families should be proud of what you've achieved," Cynthia Brown, vice president of academic affairs, told the participants. "You should be proud of what you've achieved today."
Participating schools were Amherst High School, Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School, Drury High School, Frontier Regional High School, Greenfield High School, Hopkins Academy, Longmeadow High School, McCann Technical School, Minnechaug Regional High School, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Mohawk Trail Regional High School, Mount Greylock Regional High School, Pittsfield High School, Taconic High School and Westfield High School.
 Pittsfield High School students Brittany Douglas, left, Allegra Chin and Christine Osimo won the Navy Medal. |
