MARCH 27, 2023

The gymnasium at Bedford Road School was filled with bright ideas and excitement Thursday at the school’s annual Fourth Grade Science Fair.  

The fourth graders showed their projects to students from the other grades during the day on Thursday, March 23, before their parents came at night. The projects explored topics that ranged from optical illusions to how fast hot chocolate cools in various cups.  

Chrissie Moses, the Science Teacher for BRS, encouraged students to use their imaginations.  

The fourth graders had about eight weeks to come up with an idea and develop a project. Their ideas came from everywhere.  

“The idea came to me when I was running home with a piece of paper in my hand,” said Nolan. “I thought, ‘Hmm, that could make a science project.’” 

Nolan’s project, “Getting Around Gravity,” measured how much speed would be needed to counteract gravity and keep a piece of paper from falling to the ground.   

Lauren, who is in Laura Twomey’s class, found the inspiration for her science project in a novel whose main character had cystic fibrosis. Lauren studied the respiratory system and healthy lungs.  

“It just takes one bad gene from Dad and one bad gene from Mom to get cystic fibrosis,” Lauren said. “If they can replace a gene, they can make sure that the person can live a better life.”  

Emma, who hopes to be a doctor someday, used an Electro Magnetic Frequency Radiation Detector to measure the radiation exposure from household appliances. The worst offender? A cell phone, though a wireless printer came in a close second.  

“It’s crazy,” Emma said. “Nobody really thinks about this when they are using a phone, but radiation can be bad for you.”  

High School Musical Jr. starring Pleasantville Middle School sixth to eighth graders ran only two nights – March 24 and March 25 -- but it was the talk of the school for months.  

Music teacher and middle school theater director Robyn O’Brien started creating buzz for the play at the beginning of the year when she posted 20 Playbills of famous Broadway Musicals in her classroom and promised to remove a few Playbills each day until only this year’s musical remained. The big reveal came on Friday, Jan. 13, when High School Musical Jr. stood alone on the board.  

The sixth-eighth grade musical is just one of many opportunities the Pleasantville schools offer students to perform on stage. The fifth graders presented “Annie” in February, which O’Brien also directed. Pleasantville High School students presented six performances of “Bye Bye Birdie” and Bedford Road School has class performances weekly in its Little Theater. 

The countdown was on in Bryan Gaiser’s 5th Grade STEAM Lab as students raced robotic Lego cars across the floor. Using software on their laptops, the students controlled the speed of the cars, manipulated mechanical arms to pick up small Lego towers and pointed their cars to the finish line.  

Nicky and Alex’s car came in first.  

“We won,” Nicky shouted.  

The students built the cars from Lego Spike Kits, which teach the basics of computer programming through a block coding system. The STEAM class offers an opportunity for Pleasantville Middle Schoolers to learn computer skills that they build upon in later grades.  

“There are blocks that let you control movement, motors, light, sound and more,” said Nicky. “Right now, we are just using motors and movements. You can make the car go faster by putting parts on or taking parts off. It’s a little tricky but we’ll figure it out.” 

Coding may seem like serious science, but the students see how fun it can be.  

Teammates Rebecca and Acadia, whose car never quite made it across the finish line, joked about their car needing more confidence and motivation to win.  

“Even machines need motivation,” Acadia said.  

They told School Superintendent Dr. DeSa, who stopped by the class to watch the big race, that their car was named “Carly.”  

“It’s a car, so “Car – Ly," Rebecca said, and everyone burst out laughing.  

Mr. Gaiser asked what the class learned from the race. 

“It takes more than one try before you get something,” Acadia said.  

Pleasantville High School was one of 60 teams from across the state to compete in 23 events at the Science Olympiad State Competition on March 17th and 18th at Le Moyne College in Syracuse.  

The PHS team had a great showing at the competition, with some students coming in 3rd place.  

Clara Neilson-Papish, Harshini Pothuganti, and Zach Neilson-Papish came in 9th place for Experimental Design. Experimental Design is an event where students create, conduct and report an experiment entirely on site.  

Clara and Zach also came in 3rd place for Write It, Do It! Write It, Do It is an event where one student will write a description of an object and how to build it, and then the other student will attempt to construct the object from the description. 

“We are so proud of all of our participants and the fantastic display of sportsmanship, community and positivity they demonstrated this weekend,” Science Olympiad Club Co-Advisor Filiz Scales said. “We are also glad they had a great time representing our school at a statewide event.”   

It was the first time that Pleasantville High School’s Science Olympiad Team went to states, but it likely won’t be the last. The team came in 45th place out of 60, but club members gained valuable experience in the competition. In addition, the club itself is growing in popularity and included three teams this year.  

"The students have already developed fundraising and studying plans for next year,” Club Co-Advisor Christine Pallotta said. “They have been so energized by this experience. I can't wait to see what next year brings." 

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