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Freshmen innovators at work
Freshmen innovators at work
Elle Blount '27
Design Editor
Chloe Howse '29 with her trifold on Tendonitis vs. Bio Freeze.
On Thursday, November 13, Louisville hosted its very first 9th Grade Science Fair after school, open for all adoring parents and students alike. Ms. Dzheyranyan, known as “Ms. D” to her students, organized the affair, preparing her students weeks beforehand. According to Ms. D, freshmen were able to pick any topic within a “loose category of science,” and research methods varied across students. Surveys, experiments and research projects were all on display in St. Louis Hall.
“I want to bridge the gap between biology and creativity,” Ms. D stated, encouraging students to dive into their interests.
A standout at the event was Chloe Howse ’29, who created a project on Bio Freeze as a solution to Tendinitis, a common foot condition in en pointe ballerinas. Chloe was inspired by her own struggles as a dancer with constant pain while at her studio or at competitions. She alternated between using and not using biofreeze for two weeks, rating her pain levels after each class. After a few days conditioning herself to Bio Freeze on the arch and heel of her foot, she felt almost no pain. Chloe recommends her findings to other dancers like herself for daily use.
Some students went the more scientific and less experience-based route, like Sara Abe ’29 and Gianna Scime ’29, observing the failures of homemade water filtration systems.
After constructing their filter, the two found that their model, made out of household items, “clears but does not clean the water,” said Gianna Scime ’29.
Cassandra Larson ’29 originally set to compare different types of bread and their tendency to mold, namely ones with gluten vs. ones without. However, when doing her procedure, she did not observe any mold. She discovered that mold spores travel through the air and the paper bags prevent this reaction, hence her clever project title: “To mold or not to mold.”
Iris Pavoggi ’29 was another standout for the visual aesthetics of her poster and experiment with music and pea plants. She observed that her plants favored classical music to rock, and demonstrated more growth when exposed to their favorite tunes. While most would love to believe that pea plants can listen to and prefer the soothing sounds of violins and pianos to drums and guitars, Iris found that the plants in fact reacted to the vibrations of classical music, a process known as cytoplasmic streaming, which stimulated their growth patterns in comparison to the harsh vibrations of rock.
Many faculty members, such as Dr. Aguilar, Ms. Pascual, and Mr. Law served as judges for the fair, and walked around with rubrics to take notes on the students’ presentations. They sent their thoughts to Ms. D for her consideration over the weekend and she will be announcing the winners next semester. These winners will then become nominees for the Los Angeles County Science Fair.
Great job to all of our trailblazing freshmen scientists!
Iris Pavoggi '29 with her trifold on The Effects of Music on Pea Plants.
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