Science rules: Special education students wow at annual Unique fair
Her rocket may not have landed on the moon, but a couple of feet off the ground was good enough for Immokalee High junior Tajha Ilerant.
The 17-year-old student scientist teamed up with fellow classmates to determine how high they could shoot a small hand-made rocket toward the sky.
Fuel consisted of citric acid, water and baking soda.
"On our first try, the rocket exploded on our teacher," said Tajha.
"The second try we didn’t do it right. And the third time the rocket did a backflip. The fourth try we finally got the rocket off the ground a couple of feet."
Immokalee High teacher Irene Nirmaier laughed when Tajha recalled the very minor explosion. But science is about trial and error, she said, and she couldn't be more proud of her lab coat-wearing students.
"They really enjoy learning about science and doing these projects really gives them a hands-on opportunity," Nirmaier added.
The rocket experiment was just one of 71 projects shown by nearly 200 students during the 5th annual Unique Science Fair held inside the Lely High School gymnasium on Dec. 8.
The annual event showcases experiments and projects from students in special education programs at Lely, Naples, Palmetto Ridge, Gulf Coast, Barron Collier, Immokalee and Golden Gate high schools, according to Lely High teacher Jacqueline Williams.
She spearheads the event with fellow teacher Nicole Cholka.
"We started with 50 students and it grows bigger and bigger every year," Williams said.
"It’s a special opportunity for our students to be the center of attention. Their excitement level is up and they know what’s coming every year," Cholka added.
The idea transpired after both teachers realized they could take their one-on-one classroom science experiments a step further.
"We thought it would be a good idea to have them present their work and learn communication skills, science and math. It's also an opportunity for our students to interact with one another," said Williams.
Unlike other science fairs, there weren't any judges and every student left with a trophy.
Students started their projects as early as October either on their own or with a team.
Lely High junior Eronise Joseph worked solo.
The 17-year-old excitedly talked about her experiment, which asked: Can people tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi?
She hypothesized that most taste testers would know the difference, and she was right.
"I see when I go to a restaurant people always ask for Coke or Pepsi. To me, I thought it would be great to do something like this as an experiment," Eronise said.
Fellow classmate, senior Kendrick Brizard said what he likes most about the science fair is meeting other students like him.
"Just chilling out with people and talking to them," the 18-year-old said after he presented his experiment, which found that salt makes ice melt faster than sugar.
Gulf Coast High freshman Johnathon Bingham and his peers discovered the dirty truth about water pollution.
"As you can see it’s definitely polluted," said Johnathon as he showed students a glass tank full of water turned black from soda cans, milk cartons and candy wrappers.
His team called the experiment the Stank Tank.
"I wanted my students to see what happens when people toss garbage out of their car window," said Gulf Coast High teacher Linda Grisso. "The students love doing a project like this because they get together and do something as a group. And they love making a mess."