Big Sandy Scientists Headed to the International Fair
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Gabriella Blatt, a senior at Big Sandy will be making her third appearance at the International Science Fair.
The Hi-Line Regional Science Fair was held March 8th at MSU-Northern. Students from eight Montana counties compete for the chance to represent Montana at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair.
Gabriella Blatt, a senior at BSHS won the high school portion of the fair and successfully earned her third appearance at the International Fair with her project entitled Hydrogenation as a Method for Upgrading Lignin-Based Bio-Oil to High Value Chemicals. She began work on this project last year with her partner, Madison Reichelt. During the first year of their study, they worked to convert wood from pine bark beetle killed trees into a usable bio-oil. This year, Gabriella not only worked to develop a more environmentally friendly method to convert the wood to oil, but she also upgraded the oil into usable hydrocarbons suitable for use in the fuels and plastics industry.
Taking second place honors was BSHS sophomore, Tyler Schwarzbach. His project focused on the glyphosate concentrations in organic versus conventionally grown wheat. Glyphosate is the chemical found in the weed spray, Roundup. He learned that there was very little difference between the concentrations found in the wheat samples, but that it was present in both organic and conventional wheat. The testing for Tyler's project was made possible thanks to a generous donation to the science department given by BSHS alumni Ken Gibbons.
Tyler Schwarzbach, a sophomore placed second and will also be headed the the International Science fair for the first time.
Jasmine Genereux presented very well, earning a blue ribbon for her project on Cyber-bullying. Sophia Reichelt and Duke Darlington also presented well, earning red ribbons for their presentations. Sophia studied glucose content in potatoes and developed ways to reduce the glucose prior to cooking. Duke Darlington studied the rates of interaction between predators and livestock on several ranches southeast of Big Sandy.
Several F.E. Miley Elementary students, under the direction of Leah Olson, also participated in the science fair. 5th grader Reinhard Bold earned2nd place overall honors. He studied the effects of different fertilizers on spring wheat. Earning blue ribbons at the fair were Rusty Gasvoda, Kody Strutz, Amy Gasvoda, Jaycee Worrall, Kylee Sternberg. Earning red ribbons were Lance Rutledge and Wylee Snapp.
