Back in-person in 2022: Things get STEAMy at Webutuck science fair

WEBUTUCK — Nurturing the next generation of scientists, scholars, artists and innovators through a crowd-pleasing event, the Webutuck community came out to the eighth annual STEAM Fair on Saturday, March 19, to watch students challenge their creative powers.

After last year’s virtual fair, students and staff were excited to learn this year’s fair would be held in person.

“While the Virtual Fair was a great way to stay connected and share what we were learning while we couldn’t be together, it didn’t have quite the same energy,” said STEAM Fair Co-Chair Danielle Fridstrom. “Being able to come together and communicate face-to-face is something we all missed when the fair was virtual [due to COVID].”

Since September, Fridstrom said she and STEAM Fair Co-Chair Christine Gillette have worked closely with the district, examining the frequent changes to health and safety protocols to ensure they could hold an in-person event.

To allow for additional spacing, the fair moved from the Eugene Brooks Intermediate School (EBIS) cafeteria to the gym.

After navigating a few unexpected challenges — including the district’s emergency asbestos abatement project and inclement weather —  the fair was finally on the 19th.

Fewer than 50 students in pre-k through 12th grade set up their experiments and displays in the EBIS gym at 8:30 a.m., and shared their explorations with attendees between 9:30 and 11 a.m.

Participants and onlookers circulated throughout the gym, asking students questions about the experiments and delighting in the diversity of projects on display.

Judges took careful notes about the projects. Snacks and beverages were sold outside the gym to benefit Webutuck’s graduating class of 2022.

Hailing the STEAM Fair as one of her favorite Webutuck events, Fridstrom said the event would be impossible without the support of the Webutuck Teachers’ Association (WTA), PTA, Civil Service Employee Association (CSEA), Moore and Moore Printing and the teaching and custodial staff.

Along with appreciating the diversity of projects and the confidence in students’ public speaking skills, teacher Monica Baker admired the collaboration among everyone there. She said the STEAM Fair was a unique chance for students to see what their peers are learning and to learn from them, while teacher Jennifer Jaffe said it’s an opportunity for the younger students to come meet the teachers who will be teaching them in the coming years.

“These are the opportunities that really bridge the divide,” Baker said. “It really is K though 12.”

All students in pre-k through third grade were awarded prize bags, while all fourth-graders were awarded $20 gift certificates to Oblong Books & Music in Millerton.

This year’s EBIS winners included sixth-graders Lyla Kern and Anastasia Mersand in first place for We Are Destroying the Planet; eighth-graders Angel Camargo Vasquez and Gianna Kall in second place for Electromagnetic Coil Gun; and eighth-grader Alexander Caldiero in third place for Coke v. Diet Coke. Seventh-grader Brayden Selfridge was received honorable mention for his project Eggs-Speriment in Osmosis.

Webutuck High School winners included senior Samantha Meehan in first place with Mental Health in the Court/Legal System; junior Adryanna Selfridge in second place for Geodes Rock; and freshmen Luis Cabrera and Hayden Fedorczak in third place with The Effects of Time of Day on Gaming Scores.

Fifth-graders Mariana Martinez Reyes and Bella Milano won the DaVinci/Macgyver Award for Crane, while seventh-grader Hailey Brennan won the Visual Communication Award for her experiment The Rex Mutation.

Fair prizes were donated by the WTA, PTA, CSEA and the Science Department.

Brayden and Adryanna Selfridge and Samantha Meehan will present their STEAM Fair projects at the 63rd Annual Dutchess County Regional Science Fair on Saturday, April 2.

Third-grader Madelyn Brant took STEAM Fair judges on a tour of the solar system with her STEAM Fair display. Photo by Kaitlin Lyle

A seventh-grader at Eugene Brooks Intermediate School (EBIS), Brayden Selfridge earned an honorable mention among the STEAM Fair’s EBIS award winners for his experiment Eggs-Speriment in Osmosis. Photo by Kaitlin Lyle

Third-grader Madelyn Brant took STEAM Fair judges on a tour of the solar system with her STEAM Fair display. Photo by Kaitlin Lyle