Covenant Academy students receive science fair awards

In their first science fair, Covenant Academy students proved no matter how young you are, you can still make a great little scientist.

?At the beginning of the year,? said teacher Mildred Simmons, ?we told the students about the science fair but we didn?t know what would happen because it was our first science fair.?

Out of the 21 kindergarten, first- and second-graders, there were 30 projects.

?We were so happy with how many experiments we had,? said Simmons. ?One of the judges commented that they were impressed with the amount of hard work the students put in.?

Children are born scientists, Simmons says. Their basic instinct is to be curious about the world around them. Science encourages observation, questions about how things work, and problem solving.

There were three categories, biological (living), physical (non-living) or mathematical (numbers, counting, graphs). Children were allowed to enter more than one category.

As part of the experiment, the children had to write a hypothesis including what they wanted to find out, how they carried out their experiment, and what they learned. Exhibits included volcanoes, how lungs work, how flowers absorb water, rockets, M&Ms and many more.

Judges for the science fair included Tim Pedigo, a science teacher from Warren County High School, and Pat Patterson, PhD, an associate professor at MTSU.

All the children participating were given an honorable mention ribbon. Winners from each category and grade are:

? Kindergarten: physical ? first place was Paxton Butler, second was Andrew Scott, third was Nicolette Newby; biological ? first place was Kelsey Gross, second was Chloe Hillis; mathematical ? first place was Chloe Hillis.

? First grade: physical ? first place was Bryant McNatt, second was Skyler Hobbs, third was Taylor Madewell; biological ? first place was Ashley Keifer; mathematical ? first place was Kara Caten.

? Second grade: physical ? first place was Karly Wilson, second was John Rigsby; biological ? first place was Caroline Scott.