On Saturday morning, March 24, Stafford Elementary students Savannah Lewis, Hunter Hinz, Rose Kennimer, Jayden Perkins, and Colton Allen took part in the Ellis County Science Fair at Lucy Mae McDonald Elementary in Ferris.  Their exhibits were judged in competition against the exhibits of other elementary students from Waxahachie, Maypearl, Palmer, and Ferris.

Savannah Lewis, a 5th grader and possible future chemist at Stafford, proved that a frozen Mentos candy reacts differently from a room-temperature Mentos when dropped into a bottle of soda.  If you want more soda to bubble out of the bottle, use a frozen Mentos; if you want a taller geyser of soda, use a room temperature Mentos.  

Hunter Hinz, a 4th grader and possible future biologist, proved that some breakfast cereals really do contain the iron they claim in their nutrition labels by using a magnet to actually pull the iron out of liquefied cereal samples.  

The team of Rose Kennimer and Jayden Perkins, 4th graders and possible future agricultural scientists, proved that some kinds of worms make compost faster than others by placing three different kinds of night crawlers in a mixture of coffee grounds and other waste materials.  

Sixth grader and possible future engineer, Colton Allen, won 2nd place by building a miniature trebuchet (a medieval weapon of war similar to a catapult) and flinging small, medium, and large ammunition to measure how far the trebuchet threw objects of differing masses.  Colton originally entered the science fair while in the Waxahachie ISD, but moved back into the Italy ISD a few weeks ago.  We’re glad to have him back.

We are extremely proud at Stafford, to have all of these great minds at work for the Italy ISD.  Their hard work and achievements represent our district with the highest level of excellence.  These students also share the distinction of being among the first to start a new tradition of annual science fairs at Stafford Elementary and annual participation in the Ellis County Science Fair.