The Brucks, Cothren and Elder families had reason to celebrate in this year’s Montgomery County R-II Science Fair on Feb. 2 at the Montgomery County Middle School multipurpose room.

Each of the families had two siblings earn first-place finishes for their projects. Sisters Olivia and Sophie Brucks were winners in first and third grade, respectively. Brothers Hampton and Mercer placed first in the second and seventh-grade divisions. Sisters Lillian and Julia Elder earned first-place medals in the fourth and eighth-grade divisions.

The top three finishers in each grade level – from kindergarten to high school – receive medals. Prizes were also given away at the event. 

There was also a teacher’s category at the science fair. Tina Harms’ second-grade class at Montgomery City Elementary won that category. 

The fair had about 130 students participate. Co-chairman Jim Elder said he was impressed with the creativity of all of the projects.

“These kids are so into their projects,” he said. “It’s pretty neat.”

Julia Elder, who attends MCMS, created a project called “Be The Star, Don’t See The Stars,” in which she had to find out what substance can be put on a softball helmet to protect the head when getting hit by a ball.

“A few years ago, I got hit in the head with a ball from a pitch,” Julia said. “It hurt the helmet and I got a headache from it. So I was wondering what I could add for extra protection because football came out with extra protection that goes over their helmet.”

The eighth-grader found out that oobleck is the best substance to put on the helmet.

“If you sink your fingers into it, it will act like a liquid,” Julia said. “If you hit it or punch it, it will act like a solid.”

Lillian Elder, who attends MCE, won first place for her project, “Spray Some Sugar On Me.” It was an experiment on tasting s’mores.

“One night, my family and I were going to do s’mores, but it was too windy, so we did it inside,” the fourth-grader said. “So it didn’t taste right whenever we microwaved it inside. So then I wondered what I could put on a s’more to make it taste better.”

Mercer Cothren created a project called “Sip or Skip,” in which he experiments what’s the best drinking water.

“I was testing different types of water,” Mercer said. “I tested well water, drinking water, bottled weather and city water. Overall, I think bottled water is probably the best, but something I noticed is that the Member’s Mark has by far the most fluoride.”

Hampton Cothren, who goes to MCE, won first place for his project, “Ready for Takeoff.” The experiment tests distance and accuracy of catapult-assisted airplane launches.

The Brucks sisters attend Jonesburg Elementary. Olivia won with her experiment, “Which Brand of Microwave Popcorn Pops The Best?” Sophie got first for her Battle Bridges project, which determines which bridge supports the most weight.

Other first-place finishers were Lyanna Kopp of MCE (kindergarten), Adelaide Healy of MCE (fifth grade), Kyndall Groeber of MCMS (sixth grade) and Anna Kay Johnson of MCHS (high school).

Adelaide made a project called “An Eye For AI.” It included numerous pictures in which patrons who attended the fair had to find out whether they’re real or AI (artificial intelligence).

“We searched on Google for real pictures and we used reliable sources like National Geographic and Britannica,” Adelaide said. “Then we went on to Google Gemini and created AI pictures.”

Kyndall created “Snore No More,” an experiment in which she had to find out what causes snoring and what needs to be done to prevent it. She competed at the science fair for the first time.

“My sister (Alexa) has been doing it,” Kyndall said. “She said it’s fun to do it and that made me think that it would be fun. And it was.”

Second-place winners were Zachary Wiser (kindergarten), Willow Hamilton (first grade), Kinsley Rakers (second grade), Lily Hamilton (third grade) and Alva Powell (fourth grade) of MCE, Ezra Birt of JBE (fifth grade), Tessa Henness (sixth grade), Jett Beattie (seventh grade) and Kirsten Collins (eighth grade) of MCMS.

Third-place winners were Elodie Poggas (first grade), Lester Sachs (second grade), Maddox Doyle (third grade) and Ella Brucks (fifth grade) of JBE, Charlee Schreiner (fourth grade) of MCE and Rikki Fry (sixth grade), Easton Schreiner (seventh grade) and Avery Finke (eighth grade) of MCMS.