Thursday, May 16, 2024
At the 17th annual MPS STEM Fair, in an exhibit hall at the Baird Center downtown, students created designs with swinging pendulums and rotating spinners that dripped, spattered, and lashed paint, while they also absorbed lessons in gravity and variables.
Elsewhere in the hall, students of all ages and from every region in the school district explained their STEM projects to competition judges and anyone simply curious, through re-creations, illustrations, and photos.
Fayth Henry and Victoria Hicks, 2nd graders at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School, illustrated their “Getting Down with Density” experiment by adding liquids to a clear glass: corn syrup, tonic water (colored green), vegetable oil, dish soap, and baby oil, plus a little glitter. Voila — the liquids stayed layered instead of mixing, thanks to different densities, the girls said.
At another table, Jencarlos Rito Martinez, a 7th grader from Doerfler School, explained his carefully controlled experiment on whether the amount and type of ice affects the production of fog. Jencarlos is deciding whether to be a scientist, engineer, or mathematician someday.
The students were among nearly 600 from MPS who took part in the fair on May 9, presenting almost 300 projects. 
Other exhibits included a sustainable model city and “trashion,” articles of clothing made from discarded items. They included a cap from Dr Pepper soda cans, a skirt from fundraiser-candy-bar wrappers with a coordinating top made of the gold paper folded around the bars, and a dress made of silver bubble-padded envelopes.
This year’s STEM Fair began adding more arts into the event, such as the pendulum and spinner paintings, and Makey Makey music machines, which use the human body plus a conductor — anything from a banana to Play-Doh and graphite pencils — to form a circuit and make music.
Organizers already are looking ahead to 2025. The goal for next year is to move from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to STEAM (the addition of arts) by integrating more art into student projects and demonstrations at the fair, said Rebecca Nowak Gimenez, MPS science instructional coach.
The STEM Fair was made possible with the generous support of GE HealthCare. In addition, representatives of GE HealthCare were among the 127 judges in the STEM competition, along with MPS staff, retired educators, and others.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 MPS STEM Fair:
K-2 Science
1st place: Gaenslen School, “Melting Snow,” Parker Rice and Jaykim Wilder
2nd place: Riley Dual Language Montessori School, “Is There Metal in Cereal?” Harvey Lenz
3rd place: Carson Academy, “Taste Smell Connection,” Alexander Martinez
Grades 3-5 Science
1st place: Westside Academy, “Can Rain Gardens Help with Floods?” Lomir Oliver-Finch, Tee’Asia Johnson, and De’Khia Horton
2nd place: Golda Meir School, “How Does Borax Affect a Bouncy Ball's Bounce?” Zanai Cunningham
Grades 6-8 Science
1st place: Golda Meir, “5-Second Rule,” Logan Vignieri
2nd place: Whitman Elementary, “It’s Only Rocket Science,” Rylan Fabian
3rd place: Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts, “Primary Focus,” Olivia Whitehead 
3rd place: Golda Meir School, “Method to Improve Test Scores,” Spencer Robinson
High School Science
1st place: Reagan College Preparatory High School, “Engineering Models for Medical Sutures: The Effect of Suture Knots on Seam Strength,” Gemma Vacarro
2nd place: South Division High School, “DNA Testing: How Can DNA Be Used to Identify Possible Relative, Unique Genetic Characteristics and Potential Genetic Diseases,” Halimah Bibi B Abdul Salam and Siti Norshahira Yassin.
3rd place: Reagan College Preparatory High School, “Ophthalmology: The Effect of Short-Term Blindness on Visual Reaction Time,” Leyna Fehr
High School Research
1st place: South Division High School, “La pandemia y su participación en el Cambio Climático,” Oscar Delgado
2nd place: South Division High School, “Efectos y Consecuencias a causa de la contaminación en el Aire,” Valeria Salcedo
3rd place: Reflo interns from Bradley Technology and Trade High School, “Waste Diversion”
K-2 Engineering
1st place: Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA), “Marble Maze #1,” Alan Ojeda, Yatzil Mexicano, Jaime Bonfil, and Daniela Martinez Mora
2nd place: Westside Academy, “Make Your own Stethoscope,” Charles Lucas III, Jamarco Johnson Ward, and Xaraina Spears
3rd place: ALBA, “Marble Maze #2,” Enrique Gonzalez Sanchez, Santiago Rodriguez, Sofia Fregoso, and Charlize Lopez Rosales
Grades 3-5 Engineering
1st place: Riley Dual Language Montessori School, “Can I Make a Record Player out of Recycled Materials?” Lorelei Lenz
2nd place: Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School, “Jumping Robot Toy,” Zachary Cooper
3rd place: Burdick School, “Potential Wheels,” Kayden DeLourdes
Grades 6-8 Engineering
1st place: Cooper Elementary, “Clean Cycle,” Taylor Vang, CeCe Lewis, and Colton Medina
2nd place: Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts, “Beauty and Brains,” Nga Fei Sun
3rd place: Humboldt Park School, “New and Improved Sports Inhaler Case,” Chloe Rivera-Walz, Teagan Lee, and Gabriela Roche 
High School Engineering
1st place: Reagan High School, “Breaking Bridges,” Cornel Penager Davidson
2nd place: Audubon High School, “Restorative Justice App,” Genesis Perez, Emma Rosales, and Chit Moe Win Oo
3rd place: MacDowell Montessori School, “Water Purification,” Madison Robinson
Tomorrow’s SHEroes
The winner of the Tomorrow’s SHEroes award is Hope Lunzala Nambusi, 7th grader at Hartford University School. The award recognizes and encourages female innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Hope, an enthusiastic science student, is on the school’s Science Olympiad Team and placed 3rd in her school’s STEM Fair. Science is her favorite subject in school, and Hope wants to go into science as a career.
Zoological Society Passion Prize
This year’s winners are two 4th graders from Elm Creative Arts School, Jaleeyah Bridges and Amiyah Virginia. Anonymous judges for this prize listened to students present their projects and selected Jaleeyah and Amiyah for their enthusiasm for their project.
Button Design Contest
Miles Schleicher, a 7th grader at Burdick School, won 1st place in the 2024 STEM Fair button design contest for students in grades 6 to 12.