To culminate their studies, students who are participating in the district’s summer science research program presented the results of their designed experiments.

The rising seventh, eighth and ninth graders explored, observed, collected, experimented and analyzed the outdoor environment around Prodell Middle School.

The student-scientists, who are familiar with Google Slides, used a PowerPoint instead of a traditional scientific poster for their presentation, so that their findings were clear and concise on each slide.

Samuel Alessi, AJ Crawford and Will Stankaitis presented on a fallen oak tree; Maggie Anderson, Summer Murphy and Isabelle Scherl presented on mushrooms; Jaiden Flores, William Hanwell, Timmy Murphy, Timmy Nigrel and Nate Schaefer revealed their poison ivy findings; Katie Schaefer and Sasha Seletskaya presented on the effects of soil chemistry and Lukas Brand, Myles McAdam and Everett McClintock talked about lichens that have formed around campus trees.

“We had a great time outdoors and, in this summer, exploring the campus of Prodell and viewing the ecosystems we found through a scientific lens,” SWRHS science teacher Dana Schaefer, who led the program, said. She added that the students did a great job presenting their data and either confirming or contradicting their initial hypothesis, while also mentioning the future work that could be done on their particular topic.