Local elementary students competing for trip to regional fair

From making raisins dance to testing the environment in which bananas ripen quickest, students across the school district are putting the scientific process to the test.

Fritsch Elementary School held its annual science fair Wednesday, with projects arranged on tables set up in the cafeteria.

Fourth-grader Peng Chen, 10, said the process encouraged students to look at science in new ways.

"They're outrageous," he said as he wandered through the displays. "There were many ideas that couldn't actually be thought of by regular circumstances."

Joseph Miller, 9, noticed one such project.

"I saw someone trying to make lemons scream with a buzzer," he said. "I never thought you could do something like that. I like it."

Clayton Gardner, 9, found a different kind of inspiration when he walked by an experiment testing whether a hamburger from a Happy Meal would mold within two weeks.

"It made me hungry because I like McDonald's," he said.

Science fairs are being hosted at schools across the district this month into early March. Winners from each of the schools will be displayed for the community March 16 in Sarah Winnemucca Hall at Western Nevada College.

They will compete in the regional science fair March 24-26 at the University of Nevada, Reno.

In addition to the traditional science fair, Fritsch also held an invention fair, where students put their creativity into action.

One student found a way to combine housework and working out with the invention of mop shoes - sponges attached to the bottom of a pair of Crocs.

Another solved his mother's woes of always being cold at sporting events by fastening a blanket to a stadium seat and calling it a Hearty Seaty.

"People came up with good ideas," said Angela Cirone, 9. "Those are always the ones that win."