Science Fair blossoms into Academic Fair

Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
·2 min read

Apr. 23—First-grader Jordan Jones has a plan for the Muskogee Seventh-day Adventist Christian Academy's Academic Fair.

"I want to see what makes all the liquids mix together," she said.

Jordan and the school's other students will show their projects at the fair, 2 p.m. Sunday at the school.

Teacher Audrey Fabriga said all 21 students, from kindergarten through senior, have fair projects.

"We just like to broaden their horizons, and they can work on a project that they have an interest in that we maybe don't get to cover during the school year," Fabriga said.

The fair at takes students beyond science fair exhibits.

"They can choose any topic from any subject that they have interest in," Fabriga said. "I have a student doing history of the flag. They can take somebody from history. I have students doing a finance fair project, one that's doing a science experiment."

Sixth-grader Lexi Wiseman said on Wednesday that she was still working on her entry about the Revolutionary War.

"I haven't got to read over my notecards yet, so I have not memorized it yet," she said.

The school began hosting science fairs eight or nine years ago, she said. However, she said that when she became a head teacher three years ago, she sought to widen the fair's focus.

"Give the guys a little more to choose from," she said. "It could turn into an academic fair instead of just a science fair, give the students a few more options of things they can present on."

This is the second year for an academic fair.

Fabriga teaches a classroom of nine students, from kindergarten through eighth grade.

The students sometimes work together on classroom lessons, such as a recent experiment on refraction, or how light travels.

Students stood three index cards in a row. Each card had a hole.

"You're going to predict how will the light travel through the index cards," Fabriga said.

Jordan said she thought the light would shine through all three.

Students found out if their predictions came true when they shined flashlights through the holes.

However, students were encouraged to work on their academic fair projects at home.

"It's a project I try to encourage the families to help with, kind of get them involved," Fabriga said.

If you go

WHAT: Academic Fair.

WHEN: 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Muskogee Seventh-day Adventist Christian Academy, 6106 W. Okmulgee Ave.