Area students gather for ExxonMobil science expo in Channahon

CHANNAHON – Jessica Janicki and Brianna Gillson explained the successes and misses of their “lettuce grow food” science experiment to a crowd of parents.

The duo, along with their science club team from Minooka Intermediate School, attempted to use a mix of water and popular household solutions to grow lettuce.

“It was interesting to figure out which liquids would make the lettuce grow best. I thought it would be salt water, but sugar water and water were the best,” Gillson said.

On Wednesday at Channahon Junior High School, more than 160 sixth- through eighth-grade students from Minooka, Channahon, Troy and Rockdale schools took part in the seventh annual science expo, sponsored by ExxonMobil of Joliet. The students, all in an after-school science club, broke up into teams, came up with a project that involved the scientific method and had to present their creation to a room full of parents and teachers.

“This event was a lot of work, and I am proud of all of the students,” Minooka Intermediate science teacher Lauren Sowa said. “This was a great experience, and they learn to communicate what works and doesn’t work. Science is all about learning.”

Tricia Simpson, Midwest public affairs manager at ExxonMobil, said this year’s theme was science of the future and stressed that the event always has created an environment in which students are free to succeed and fail, which is a part of science. According to Simpson, there were 40 more students this year than last year.

“I think we are growing because teachers do a terrific job making science fun and interesting. Students also understand that it’s an opportunity to understand what a career in engineering, math or anything technically related can do for them,” Simpson said.

While the students talked to the hundreds of spectators, parents stood proud of their children’s accomplishments.

“My daughter loves this kind of stuff,” Brian Lowell of Minooka said of his daughter, Kayla Lowell, of Channahon Junior High. “She comes home and talks about the success and failures of her project. She had a good group of kids, and I know they had fun with the project.”

Failures were the main part of a team from Troy Middle School. Seventy-five percent of the way through their perpetual motion creation, the three students realized they never would finish and had to change gears.

”We only had three meetings left to build, and we had to talk to the teacher to switch our project. We learned to keep trying and zone in,” seventh-grade Troy Middle School student Aidan Brown said.

Although the students were excited and nervous to present to their parents and teachers, many said they learned a lot from the projects of their peers.

“This expo was very cool,” Troy Middle seventh-grader Patrick Olson said. “It captivated more interest because there were a lot of topics covered, and there was something for everyone.”