Science Fair Big News at Farm Hill

I was standing amidst the dozens of display boards at the Farm Hill Elementary School Science Fair Tuesday wondering if I had lost my instinct for a good story.

First I learned from another parent that the fair had been taped earlier in the day and was a featured news story on WFSB's (Channel 3) evening news. Then I spotted the Hartford Courant's Melissia Pionzio taking down names (her coverage will appear in Sunday's Courant). Either it was a very slow news day, or I was blind to something very important going on.

I started snapping photos, searching for the groundbreaking science display. There were electric battery potatoes and citrus, displays about UFO's, pollution, and several models of the solar system, there was a yogurt maker, a sun clock, a description of the seasons, and there were many volcanoes.

One volcano display in particular caught my attention, and the attention of many a science fair observer. This volcano was as handsome as the others, but the display was priceless. Instead of dwelling on the science of molten lava and flowing magma, this display, created by a precocious fourth-grader, decided to spill the truth about the pain, effort, setbacks and ultimate triumph of creating a science fair display on one's own. The display was complete with a chart demonstrating lost time, wasted money and discarded modelling clay.


Many a parent stopped and smiled knowingly at the description, understanding that this young student had come closer to the intersection of truth in art and science, than many of the other carefully created (the hand of a parent was evident in most), displays.

Here then, unedited is the charming truth about creating one volcano:

How Do Volcanoes Blow Lava/Magma ????

I had two problem's or three. One was that my volcano broke about ten times. Two was that my brother sat on it. Three my mother put it in the garbage. My dad was sick so he barely helped me. My brother left with my mom witch is so unfair. He needed to help me. So the result were that I had to buy new clay on the 20th. But I needed to bring it in on the 20th so I finish it in time. I finish in the morning. So the end was that my Dad had to bring me to school.

A true lesson in life.