On March 13th, members of cataLIST volunteered as judges at the Forsythe Middle School Science Fair that was held at the University of Michigan Natural History Museum. cataLIST has worked with Forsythe in the past, but many of those volunteer opportunities had stalled due to the pandemic, so we were excited to get back to it! Approximately 20 students participated in this year’s science fair. They presented 15 projects that encompassed a wide range of science topics, from MagLev technology to bacterial growth on the middle school cafeteria floor. The students did an incredible job with their projects—we were very impressed! We awarded each student with a certificate that highlighted our favorite part of their project and a succulent in a planter shaped like a bacteriophage.
Read more about our members’ experiences:
Madeline Cooke: After two years of lockdown, it was great to have an opportunity to engage with Forsythe Middle School again at their Science Fair. I was excited to see the variety of research topics and the enthusiasm that the students showed as they explained their projects to us.
Sabrina Lanker: My favorite project answered the question of “which is the healthiest cooking method?” The students measured the vitamin C content of peppers before and after different cooking methods and found that frying actually retained the most vitamin C at 75%, but they agreed that the method with the second-highest vitamin C retention (steaming) was arguably the healthiest method due to other factors.
Alondra Ortiz: All the students’ projects were great and really relatable. It was really surprising how these kids applied the scientific method to their project and how well-designed the procedures were. I particularly enjoyed a project that used the different empirical formulas of specific substances to solve a scientific mystery; the storyline was amazing and really catchy! I would definitely participate in this program again.
Jennifer Magnusson: Volunteering for judging the student projects was so much fun! All of the students did really well presenting their projects, explaining their hypotheses, and reporting their results. While all of the students did really well, I, like Alondra, was impressed by the student who used empirical formulas to solve a scientific mystery. She did really well at creating an interactive storyline and drawing her reasoning back to her own personal interests of reading mystery novels! I’ve always loved the idea of murder mystery dinners so making this an experiment was phenomenal.
Alison Fankhauser: It was so rewarding to interact with the middle school scientists. They had such thoughtful responses to questions about their projects, and it was evident that they all were very passionate and proud of the work they had done, which in turn reminded me to seek joy in my own research.
Interested in getting involved with other cool volunteering opportunities? Email catalist.umich@gmail.com!
Edited by CED and MRB
Ladies in Science and Technology: Our stories 