Second annual science fair is a smash

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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Science fairs are ubiquitous across the country. Boasting everything from homemade volcanoes to rudimentary robots, these infamous events have been documented in movies and TV shows for years. Most of them, however, are organized, sponsored and put on by schools. The Blake Science Fair in Medfield was organized not by teachers or parents, but by a high school senior, Emma Twer. This year was the second annual fair, bringing in 20 percent more students this year than last. “Planning began during my sophomore year, but it really came to fruition during my junior year,” Twer said.

“I wanted to do something for the community before I went off to school. I’ve always love science - since I was five I wanted to be a doctor - and so I wanted to do something that would instill a love of science in younger kids,” she said.

She has definitely succeeded.

This year, projects ranged from testing lung capacity to optical illusions. Prizes were handed out to first through third place. Criteria included “the experiment, how they thought of it and its meaning, as well as creativity,” Twer explained. “So the idea was to ask a question, so a lot of them will have a question at the top of their poster and their experiment was solving it.” The science fair was presented to the students in their advisory classes, but all of the work for the projects had to be outside of the classroom. “These kids thought of their ideas and worked together all on their own, which is amazing,” Twer added.

Third place was taken home by Hannah Johnson and Deeya Yadapadithaya, who created an optical illusion project. Second place was given to Andrea Cabochan, who build her own robot. The first place winners were Preet Shah, Nikil Verghes, Harshil Shah, and Thomas Davis, who created a hydroelectric generator. “It’s really cool to walk around. These kids are pretty young and they’re doing some pretty smart things,” Twer said.
She is absolutely right.