2021 Fort Atkinson Regional Science Fair winners announced

By Chris Spangler  

Contributor  

Bacteria, buoyancy, blocks and biomes were among the subjects under the microscope during the 2021 Fort Atkinson Regional Science Fair.

The event was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. A Feb. 14 awards ceremony video and student entries may be viewed at http://www.fasciencefair.org/science-fair/2021-science-fair/.

The winners in each age division follow:

Kindergarten-First Grade

The individual winner for grades K-1 was Charlie Fortney of Barrie Elementary School in Fort Atkinson for his project, “The LEGO Pulley.”

In the team competition, first place went to Jack Barr and Mason Knickrehm of Barrie for “Cookie Boats,” and second place was presented to Adelyn Shull and Adler Schneider of Purdy Elementary School in Fort Atkinson for “Which Block Makes a Higher Tower?”

Second-Third Grade

Sarah E. Webster of Rockwell Elementary School in Fort Atkinson placed first in grades 2-3 with her project, “Winter Lima Beans,” while Riley Hertzfeldt of Purdy earned a second with “Yes Egg, No Egg.”

Fourth-Fifth Grade

The first-place team in grades 4-5 was Ian Copp, Jackson Hertzfeldt and Kiptyn Smilie of Purdy, whose project was titled, “Boiling Water.”

In the individual competition, Emily Mallin of Rockwell won first place with “The Power of Positive Thinking,” while Olive Zeisler of Purdy placed second with “Conducting Electricity” and Jackson Hertzfeldt of Purdy won third with “Crystal Growing.”

Sixth-Eighth Grade

Students from St. Joseph Catholic School swept this middle school category, led by first-place honoree Caylah McKeown Boldt for her project, “Bacteria Invaders,” and second-place recipient Jameson Stafford for “Soil Compaction.”

In third place was Sam Murphy for “Buoyancy”; fourth place, Savanna Hendrickson, “DNA”; fifth place, Ella Grace Last, “Fabric Softener Flammability”; and sixth place, Sonja Morales, “Biomes.”

Winning the science fair’s T-shirt design contest was Madison Nichols, a fifth-grader at Rockwell.

Honorable mentions in the T-shirt design contest went to Mary Ellen Moran and Martha Moran, both of Fort Atkinson High School; Samantha Mallin, a seventh-grader at Fort Atkinson Middle School; and Emily Mallin, a fifth-grader at Rockwell.

The Friends of Rose Lake Special Award was presented to Sonja Morales of St. Joseph for “Biomes.”

Winning the drawing for a stereomicroscope contributed by Nasco was Rowan Hackbarth, a sixth-grader from Johnson Creek attending iForward Wisconsin Online Charter School.

The science teacher of each first-place winner received $100 to spend on science-related materials or activities, and the school that sent the greatest number of projects to the fair received $500.

St. Joseph Catholic School won the School Award, with Purdy Elementary School as runner-up.  

All student entrants received a certificate of participation, a 3-D-printed science fair medallion and T-shirt, and an award of excellence (blue ribbon), honorable mention (red ribbon) or award of participation (white ribbon).

Awards of excellence were eligible for place awards. First- through third-place winners received medals plus $50, $30 or $10, respectively.

Science fair sponsors were Bender, Kind and Stafford Dental; Nasco; Friends of Rose Lake; Ball Corp.; JM Carpets; Phil and Linda Niemeyer; Badger Basement Systems; and Steven Sahyun.

Judging this year’s science fair were Avi Bhandari, Baocheng Han, Amber Stewart, Chris Feldkamp, Crystal Karas, Kim Naber, Jessica Kienbaum, Kirsten Crossgrove, Kyla Smith, Michael Hendrix, Robin Pohlod, Paul House, Ian Carroll, Forrest Davis, Jessica McKenzie, Noah Nguyen, Jacklyn Smith, Erinn Bell, Jeesenia Zavala, Steve Anderson and Steve Sahyun.

The science fair’s board of directors includes Steven Anderson, Jessica Bonjour, Cynthia Ficenec, Paul Hable, Jon Hundt, Jordan Nelson and Steven Sahyun.