Vanessa Gramlich project was about “Plants on Steroids.”
She wanted to know if commercial plant fertilizers and growth hormones really make plants grow faster — and if so, by how much?
“It’s a steroid spray that I put on the plants. I did not expect to win,” she said.
It took her almost three weeks to prepare her project.
Her conclusion?
Using Miracle Grow increased the growth of the plants by 51 percent. Growth hormone increased plant growth by 30 percent. Miracle Grow and growth hormone increased plant growth by 54 percent.
Annika Matias, also a sixth grader, placed second for her project on hydroponic tomatoes.
She wanted to know which hybrid tomato variety grows the best tasting fruit on a hydroponic system.
“We used hydroponics to grow tomatoes and we had tasters to taste them and my problem was to find which kind of tomatoes will grow the most and the best tasting fruit,” she said.
Her conclusion, according to the taste testers, who included students and teachers: the Big Burger hybrid tasted the best while the Big Mama and Napa Grape tomato varieties yielded the biggest harvest at 4.5 lbs in a month.
Ezekiel Rafanan, a fifth grader, placed third.
His project: “Using Vinegar to Replace an Ordinary Battery.”
“It took me five days to conduct my research,” he said.
He found out that vinegar battery can be used temporarily for equipment that uses low current.
Students from fourth to sixth grades participated in the Science Fair.
The top three students in each class presented their projects in school’s cafeteria, and they were displayed there last week.
From the 45 students, the judges, who included former Rep. Tina Sablan, picked the three winners.
Rick Gramlich, who coordinated the Science Fair with Alex Mercado, said they gave the students “a copy of what we are judging on, which is mostly following the scientific method, how creative, new and interesting the project was and how the display comes out.”
The winners will compete in the CNMI Science Fair this March, Gramlich added.
