Students' interests inspire science fair
By Kate Daly Contributing Writer

PHOTO/KATE DALY Amanda Allen and Claire Munley display the results of their tests on the light absorption of different colors of cotton.

Marlborough - Claire Munley, 15, said she and Amanda Allen, 16, are athletes and don't consider themselves scientists.

Nevertheless, the two sophomores combined the two for the Marlborough High School (MHS) Science and Engineering Fair by examining what color cotton fabrics absorb heat the best.

"We're athletes and spend a lot of time outside," Munley said. "To regulate body temperature, you want to have the right color."

"After testing, I learned that black fabric is really the worst thing you can wear on a hot day," Allen said.

But they learned about more than color in the process. The girls used power tools to build the frame on which they hung various colored cotton squares to expose them to light.

"We tested the heat absorption of six diff erent colored squares," Munley said.

They tested each color 30 times.

For Munley, the process is only the beginning. The two are considering testing fabric types, using a single color, next year.

"It can be branched off in a bunch of diff erent directions," Munley said.

Science and music

Kevin Flynn turned his passion for the guitar into an experiment. There has always been controversy about which of the two pick-ups on an electric guitar is louder, the single coil or the Henley, he said.

"I wanted to see which one was loudest," Flynn said. "I found that the Henley is louder in three diff erent settings."

The contest

Judges, professionals from outside the school who use science and technology in their work, add an important element: real-world experience. This year 44 professionals judged the contest.

For Martin Reggette, from Rohm & Hass, the fair off ered a welcome return to MHS.

"I coached soccer here for two years, so it was good for me to come here and see how the girls do academically," Reggette said. "I think it's good for the kids to see someone with a professional career."

Michael Castorano, also from Rohm & Hass, has judged at MHS before, and he sees this as an opportunity to give back to the community.

"I really enjoyed it," he said. "I was a big chemistry geek in high school. I always remember doing this kind of project."

And while not all the exhibitors won prizes, MHS Science Coordinator William Rigney said simply participating is an accomplishment that reaches beyond the individual experiments.

"Yes, it's a science fair," he said. "But it connects to just about every discipline."

The students have to write, speak to the judges to explain their projects and do mathematics.

"There's been a big diff erence in how we approach [science]," Rigney said. "We look at it at a lot of diff erent levels, not just the science level."

He struggles with the image of the fair, too, he said. It means some students miss out on a great opportunity.

"There's always been something about being involved in a science fair [that] isn't cool," he said. "I had a senior come up to me and say, 'This is really cool.' She missed three years that she could have done it."

Winners of the Marlborough High School Science and Engineering Fair for grades 10 through 12 are: first place, Derrick Maxwell for "Antacids" and Anisha Gundewar, for "Bioremediation: Saltwater vs. Freshwater;" second place, Christopher DiRico and Sarah Dougherty; third place, Brianna Kunycky, Kelsey Tsai and Melisa Diaz; and fourth place, Devon Blake, Katherine Karwoski, Sarah Platt, Brian Hasbrouck, Chris Philpott, Kevin Oliveira, Bryan Rodrigues, Olivia Kotsopoulos, Stephen Tsai and Stephen McQuaid.