Three hundred and eleven young Isaac Newtons and Mary Curies, representing 32 different Catholic schools, came to compete in the Bronx-wide Science Fair last Thursday, April 29, at Mt. Saint Michael Academy. Each smartie at this final competition had already won first place in their own school’s science fair.
“This fair has gone on 25 years, and my own daughters were winners, way back when,” said Roseann Carotenuto, superintendent. “In the older grades, some of these kids do amazing things.”
Danielle Jones and Tiffany Diaz, of St. Luke School, had done a project on absorbent polymers. “We take tiny jelly marbles,” aid Diaz, “and put them in water, and they grow huge without breaking. The water goes through the outside membrane. Other projects were less scientifically technical, and dealt more with everyday human behavior. Bianca Rosa and Jamilah Ketcham, of Visitation School, focused on the power of suggestion for their project.
“So if you’re at the mall,” Rosa explained, “and a friend says he’s thirsty, chances are you’ll suddenly be thirsty too.” Ketcham and Rosa gave people four photographs to look at that showed complicated scenes with big groups, and then asked them questions based on the memories and desires that the photos prompted.
Anthony Salgado, an 8th grader at St. Nicholas of Tolentine, had prepared a project in which a potato runs a digital timer. “I put the copper wires inside the potato, attach the clock,
