School and students win top honors in science

KEARNS — Students at St. Francis Xavier Regional School excelled in science this year in the Salt Lake Diocesan Science Fair and Weber State University Science Fair in Davis County. St. Francis Xavier Regional School won top honors as the first place school for the second year in a row at the Diocesan Science Fair. Vicky Simpson was the first place teacher at the 2008 Diocesan Science Fair.

Anthony Oyler, an eighth grade student at St. Francis, and student body president, received Best Oral Presentation overall, first place in eighth grade engineering, and first place overall for all three grades in engineering. At the Weber State University Science Fair, Oyler received second place overall in engineering, and said there were 50 people in the engineering category. Oyler is a member of the National Junior Honor Society.

Jesus Hernandez, an eighth grader and student council representative, received first place overall in microbiology and an honorable mention at the Diocesan Science Fair. At the Weber State University Science Fair, Hernandez received first place in microbiology.

Hernandez was awarded a $300 scholarship from Weber State University and Oyler was awarded $200 toward future college tuition.

Oyler’s project was called "Battle of the Counter Weights." He decided to build two trebuchets, which are ancient catapults. In ancient times, they used counterweights under their arm to throw an object or projectile in battle.

"I built two different trebuchets," said Oyler. "One with a hinge counterweight, which means it is kind of in a box that is hanging from an arm and falls straight down. I also built a fixed counter weight, in which the weight is hooked directly on the end of the arm. My research was to determine which one would go farther, so I tested it in different ways. They were used in battle from about 800 AD. They fell out of fashion in the 15th or 16th century when the canon was invented."

Oyler’s interest was peaked in this project while watching the British BBC channel about a man in England who built a catapult. Oyler then went on the Internet and found a video in which a man was catapulting cars and pianos. He wondered how such a thing was able to throw something that weighed so much. He is really into math and science and wanted to discover more.

Oyler wants to focus on environmental engineering to help build systems that will help our environment and our water and food supplies. He will continue his education at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and hopes to go to college somewhere in Europe or Canada, or somewhere in the eastern states.

Hernandez is interested in DNA fusion. His project was to extract both onion DNA and pea DNA and try to use the enzyme that would cut the DNA strands in half. Then he would take one half of the onion DNA and one half of the pea DNA and put them on a slide to try to fuse them together with a DNA replica. The chemical replica would manipulate the form of the DNA strands to coincide with each other to make a new DNA strand.

"If this would have worked I would have created a new form of DNA strand and maybe even kept multiplying the DNA strands to form a cell and a new plant between the onion and the pea," saod Hernandez. "I would have called it a punion. I think it would it would have not been as strong in smell and had a sweet taste. It would have given a greenish color to the onion. It would have been a new vegetable used for cooking.

"For the past three years, I have been involved in Life Science for the Science Fair," said Hernandez. "My first year, I tried to grow mold. I wanted to know why it was so toxic and wanted to know its characteristics. Last year, I wanted to study the DNA of an onion without using a microscope and I was able to do that."

Hernandez will continue his education at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. He would also like to continue on as a biologist, geneticist, or microbiologist.

"Both Hernandez and Oyler have always had a strong interest in science, and they are the kind of students who think on a critical level," said Vicky Simpson, St. Francis science teacher. "They are always questioning and looking around them trying to figure out why things work the way they do, and what is the explanation behind that. They are always challenging themselves to make the connection between the real world and science and why things are the way they are.

"They have both been a positive influence on the school in everything they do," said Nancy Essary, principal. "They both have a deep love of math and science, and they both have great work ethics. They have both done well all three years they have entered the science fair. We thank the Knights of Columbus for sponsoring and providing the science fair. We also focus on reading and social studies, but we have a strong emphasis on science and math.

"We are always encouraging our students to defend their ideas so we are always encouraging them to think critically and logically, and ask why," said Simpson. "It starts early in pre-school so by the time they get to the eighth grade, they truly understand the concept."