The 4th Annual Lawrence-Nelson Science Fair was held on Feb. 25 in the high school gym. Students from third through twelfth grades participated in the day with topics ranging from Elephant Toothpaste to Infinity Mirrors. The students worked hard on their projects to make a successful presentation for the judges.

After being judged, all students were able to participate in fun, interactive activities. Some of these activities included an Aluminum Boats Contest, Paper Airplane Contest, GROSS games, slime making and break out rooms. The Nelson Library provided some of their Innovation Studio items, including their 3D printer. Students were able to see the design process and observe the printing of an object. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) projects were presented by Mrs. Haba, Mrs. McCartney and Mrs. Trausch. Here students were able to design and decorate flat shapes printed on paper before they cut and glued them together creating a 3D form.

Once everything was finished, the students gathered in the gym to receive awards. The awards were split into categories: elementary, 6th grade Rube Goldberg, middle school physical science, middle school life science, high school life science and high school physical science. There was first, second and third place winners for each category.

The elementary winners were fifth graders Kaden, Grayhm and Jackson (3rd place), Riley Haba and Kennedy (2nd place) and Jace Hoelting and Caleb got first place with their "Building Boats" project.

For the sixth grade Rube Goldberg Machines, the winners were Nathan Polhfal and Cody Funk (3rd place), Natalie and Kari (2nd place), and first place was Nathan Stokes.

The winners for the middle school physical science category were seventh graders Cody Brockman and Hayden Mazour (3rd place), eighth grade, Rocky Miller with second place. First place went to seventh graders Will Schaefer and Sawyer Cox with their "Fabric Burner" project.

Middle school life science winners were eighth graders Bailey Ceder, Claire Himmelberg and Riley Funk (3rd place), eighth graders Jessica Sole and Sidney Biltoft (2nd place), and seventh grader Clay Williams came in first place with his project called "Energy in Nuts."

The high school physical science and engineering winners included freshmen Katelyn Mazour and Emily Troudt with their candle burning project. In second place were freshmen Devyn Zikmund and Erik Wheeland for their study of balloon rockets. First place was awarded to freshmen Toby Kotinek and Krayton Kucera for their project on projectile motion and what angle is best to make a baseball travel the furthest.

The high school winners for the life science category with third place was junior Ayden West and his soil project. Second place were sophomores Logan Menke and Wyatt Brockman with their indoor irrigation system and first place went to juniors Jessie Himmelberg and McKenzie Ostdiek. Their project was measuring how much bacteria grows on the mouthpiece of a water bottle.

The students and observers had a fun and interactive day of learning.