More than 200 students participated in fourth annual event
Published in the Feb. 5, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Grace Smith, left, and her partner Taylor Austin, both from Britton Middle School, talk to judge Peter Anderson about their project.
Most tenth graders are not interested in delving into the mysteries of brain science, but then again, Oakwood School sophomore Joseph Peters-Atwell is not like most tenth graders. His “Entrain Your Brain” display was just one of 200 science exhibits students in the Morgan Hill Unified School District showed off at the fourth annual citywide science fair Jan. 23 at the Oakwood School gym.
His aspiration to go into a career in researching how the brain works inspired Peters-Atwell’s experiment in how sounds influence the patterns of neural impulses coursing through the brain when a person is in a sleep state.
“Basically, it started through my past experience with brainwave entrainment and isophonic tones, and my past experience with mediation,” Peters-Atwell said. “I heard that brainwave entrainment is good for sleeping and I decided to analyze how that affects dream states.”
His first time exhibiting at a science fair, the science-minded student said that the experience was enjoyable. “Not only is this just good for learning but it’s also something that I like. It’s a passion of mine and something I want to go into later in life,” he said. “This is definitely an educational experience as well as something that was fun for me.”
Science fair co-chair Marilyn Librers said she was pleased with the turn out of students as well as by the quality of the judging by local scientists Peter Anderson, Mike Cox, Yvonne Duckett, Susan Oldham-Fritts, and Frank Orlando.
“The projects were amazing this year,” Librers said. “We can tell the students put a lot of thought and a lot of work into them. One of the things that the judges look for is, did the parent do it or did the student do it? Did the student understand it? We had an excellent panel of judges this year who talked to each student and got to the base of their project.”
The science fair started in 2011 with 18 entries at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center. In 2012, it moved to Britton School but outgrew that venue. The past two years it has been held at Oakwood School. This year was the first time the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee organized the event.
Chamber of Commerce CEO/President John Horner, who appreciates science with his background as a Silicon Valley electrical engineer, said he was “thrilled” by the outcome of the event.
“The judges did a great job. All the volunteers did what they said they’d do in a timely fashion. The school was great. The students were great. It’s kind of an organizer’s dream,” he said. “But really who deserves the credit is Marilyn Librers. She’s the one who created this event, kept it alive and brought it forward.”
Science fair judge Frank Orlando, a mechanical engineer with FMC Corporation in San Jose for many years, was impressed with the quality of the students’ exhibits and their skill at communicating what they learned.
“Most of them were extremely knowledgeable about what they did and were very eager to explain to me their whole experiment,” he said.
As the executive director of the Morgan Hill-based Pauchon Foundation, Librers travels the world visiting with scientists and says the United States tends to fall behind in inspiring students to explore scientific fields. That’s why she has been a strong proponent of the citywide science fair.
“I believe that by encouraging students at a young age to get interested in the fields of science, we will hopefully encourage them for life,” she said. “Even if just one of these students makes a difference down the road as a scientist, that will make this all worth it.”
