Valley elementary students sweep regional science fair

Students from Minden, Meneley and Jacks Valley elementary schools showed off their finest work at the Western Regional Science Fair and the Lemelson Young Inventors Challenge, two separate competitions held together, March 20 to 22 in Reno.

The sixth grade saw two winners and one honorable mention. Meneley student Heath Sunseri took first place in the invention challenge for his How to Hockey Stick.

"I play hockey a lot, and I thought kids just starting out could use something that teaches them to play better," said Heath.

Heath, who plays with the Tahoe Grizzlies, fastened Velcro to the end of his stick and the palm of one glove.

"The stick is always falling out of your hand when you're (ice) skating," he said.

He also painted stripes along the stick, showing where players should place their hands for certain kinds of shots. The highest, an orange stripe, was for a wrist shot, then a blue stripe for a backhand, green stripe for a snap shot and red one for a slap.

Meneley sixth grader Kassidy Branson took second place in the invention challenge for her Trimezee Trapezee. Gage Coleman, also from Meneley, took third place in the science fair for his Blades of Glory. Sixth grader Bridget Campell from Jacks Valley received an honorable mention in the science fair for her The Color of Thought.

In the fifth-grade competitions, Minden student Carmen Shaw took second place in the invention challenge for her Fan Mat, and Nicole Terada, also from Meneley, took fourth for her Super Shower.

Minden fourth-grader Leah McKinney took first place in the fourth grade science fair for her Bye-Bye Bacteria.

Leah said she compared different commercial products to used to kill bacteria.

The 9-year-old said the experiment took her two weeks to complete. She said she wants to be a scientist when she grows up.

"I want to be a paleontologist," she said. "But I just like bacteria. They are funny little guys."

Fourth grader Audrey Muller, also from Minden, placed third in the invention challenge with her The Tattle Tale.

Third-grader Reagan Roberson of Minden took first in the invention challenge for The Drown Proof Pool.

Reagan, 9, said he built a model of the pool, which would fish someone out of the water using cables if they'd stopped moving for a certain period of time.

Lindsey Swart of Meneley's third grade took second in the invention challenge for her Bathroom Bell.

Minden students Allison Atkins and Taylor Stokes took first in the third-grade science fair team project category for their Sno-2-H2O.

Allison, 8, and Taylor, 7, took samples of snow from five different locations along Kingsbury Grade and one near one of their homes.

They found that the third sample from the top had the highest water content.

Taylor said he thought it was because there was not as much sun on the snow.

"I think it is because it was not too cold and not too hot," Allison said.

Minden first-grader Ethan McKinney took first in the science fair for his Incandescent versus CFLs, and also placed first in the invention challenge for his Wasp Tape.

Ethan, who's 7, said his father helped him build the machine to test the light bulbs. He said he had lots of help turning the lights on and off.