By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Goffstown News/Rod Hansen Fifth-grade students Thomas Palangas and Kristofer Provencal display “Thunder” and “Lightning,” two African spur-thigh tortoises, at the Weare Science and Nature Fair on Saturday, April 15.

African tortoises, model volcanoes, table-setting robots and various plant and animal studies filled the gymnasium at Weare Middle School Saturday, April 15.

It was the Weare Fifth Annual Science and Nature Fair, and students from first to sixth grades came out to show their expertise in all matters scientific.

“This is a great opportunity for kids who are interested in the sciences to demonstrate their interests,” said Selma Al-Abbas, a Weare mother of two and organizer of the science and nature fair.

Al-Abbas said she started the fair five years ago as an outlet for students interested in sciences to develop projects based on their interests, and learn more in the process.

The event is sponsored by the Weare PTO.

Along with the exhibits themselves, this year’s event also featured activity rooms with the Squam Lake Science Center live animal presentations, flower pot painting, estimating M&Ms in a jar, Silly Putty activities, magnet mania, and experiments with solar power and alternative energy.

But it was the students’ exhibits that proved to be the main attraction.

A total of 41 booths featuring individuals or teams entered into this year’s science fair. All entrants received a ribbon for their efforts, but they were also judged on areas including knowledge, creativity and their presentation to the judges.

The judges, all of whom have backgrounds in the sciences, visited the students’ booths and listened to the presentations during the judging period from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“They really put a lot of effort into their projects,” said Andrea Alderman, a first-grade judge and plant biologist and former botanist with the Forest Society. “This also a gives them a chance to work on their public speaking,” she said, noting that entrants were equal parts excited and nervous about explaining their projects to the judges.

“This gives them a chance to explore,” said first-grade judge Bob Arrendondo, the department head of mechanical engineering at New Hampshire Community Technical Institute in Concord. “They pick a topic, learn about it, and put together a presentation, making sure their topic relates to science.”

The students themselves showed a broad range of interests in their choice of topics, often demonstrating that towering figures of science can reach even the youngest students.

Kyle Russell, 9, a third-grade student at Center Woods Elementary School, put together an exhibit called “Einstein and his Scientific Ways,” based on research Russell had done on the physics giant.

“I’ve always been into Einstein,” he said, displaying a clay model he made of Einstein’s face, as well as points on some of his major theories.

Joe Russell, Kyle’s father, said the science and nature fair taps into his son’s primary interests.

“He’s always been into the sciences. He’s got a real thirst for knowledge,” Joe Russell said. “A science fair like this gives him and kids like him a chance to develop their interests.

Justin Bowen, 7, a first-grade student at Center Woods, did a study on the behaviors of his cat, Ziti, titled, “What behavior does my cat exhibit most frequently?”

In his study, Bowen photographed and recorded a number of activities as done by Ziti, including scratching and going in and out of the house.

Fifth-grade students Thomas Palangas and Kristofer Provencal attracted several visitors to their exhibit featuring “Thunder” and “Lightning,” two African spur-thigh tortoises who munched contentedly on grass in a sand-filled wading pool that held them throughout the duration of the fair.

Provencal, who has owned the turtles since he was 3 years old, researched the animals on the Internet with Palangas, learning about how the turtles survive.

“We learned a lot about them,” Provencal said, “about their habitat and their eating habits,” Provencal said.

False fire alarm

The event did hit one trouble spot around noon, when a smoke alarm caused the participants, parents and judges to exit the building for about 20 minutes.

The Weare Fire Department sent one fire engine and one ladder truck to the scene, but firefighters found no fire in the building.

Fire Lt. Bob Destefano said the alarm was caused by a faulty fire detector.

When the final numbers were tallied from the judges, the following students won for their grade levels:

First Grade

First place – Winter Coruzzo, “Volcanoes”
Second place – Seth Piescik, “I See the Light”
Third place – Sarah Clark, “Will a Plant in a Jar Die?”
Second Grade

First place – Benjamin Trumble, “Where Do We Live? Our Solar System”
Second place – Cara LaPlante and Katie Waligura, “The Liver”
Third place – Ethan Vezina, “The Making of Mummies”

Third Grade

First place – Stacey Kenney, “The Solar System”
Second place – Tim Peterson, “How Solar Energy Works”
Third place – Ferd Schoedinger and Jacob Goldsberry, “Paleontology”

Fourth Grade

First place – Becky Kuzma, “What Happens to Plants with Different Amounts of Carbon Dioxide”
Second place – Brenna Getzin, “Carbon Dixode and Bubble Blowing Nonsense”
Third place – Molly Holmes, “How to Set Up and Care for a Salt Water Aquarium”

Fifth Grade

First place – Zachary Iosua, “Set-O-Matic Lego Robotics”
Second place – Sarah Clements, “Penny Power”
Third place – Katie Esenwine and Gabby LePage, “The Body Systems”