Sisters kids shine in science contest

Sisters Elementary School students showed they are budding scientists in the annual Inventerprise 2005 contest. Sisters students have done well in past years and once again won awards this year.

In early December, a representative from sponsor Bend Research Inc. came to Sisters Elementary School to hand out two awards. Adam Novotny won in the second grade category and the team of Molly Boyle, Annie Miner and Emily Christen won for third grade.

This year’s challenge was to find solutions for the earth’s energy becoming scarcer and more expensive. Students could redesign a product so that it produces less waste or invent a use for things that are usually thrown away.

Adam Novotny explored the uses for plastic bags. His mother said their family is “very active in recycling.”

First, Adam cut part of the bag into strips and twisted it into rope. Then he used the leftover portion to make an apron. His mother was proud that his efforts produced two usable items with no trash left over.

“He gave up his playtime to finish the project,” said mother Jana Novotny.

“He wants to be a scientist and this is the beginning,” she added.

The third grade team of Molly Boyle, Annie Miner and Emily Christen tackled the problem of what to do with automobile windshields. Car glass is different from ordinary glass. Windshields are either made with a sheet of plastic laminated between two sheets of glass or it is tempered. These processes pose a challenge to recycling windshield glass.

The third graders needed some adult help so mother Lori Boyle took the girls on field trips including visiting a windshield shop. There they actually broke glass to see what happened.

“It was a huge learning project for these girls,” said Lori Boyle.

The team decided to make statues and other decorative items from the recycled glass. Molly has experience with the Inventerprise contest, having also won last year.

“She absolutely loves it,” said her mother.

More than 240 students from public and private schools in Central Oregon entered this year. Students turned in their projects in the form of models, reports and computer programs. Judges looked for originality, usefulness and development of concept.

This is the 14th anniversary of the creative science contest sponsored by Bend Research Inc. with help from Central Oregon Community College and the Bend-La Pine School District. Inventerprise is open to students from kindergarten through high school. The 2006 contest will get rolling next fall and details will be found at http://www.cocc.edu/inventerprise.