Albany Science Fair and more

What do you get when you take really bright and competitive students with an interest in science? Some pretty amazing science fair projects.

I really had no intention of creating a fair. I considered it more important to focus on learning and not on competition. We had plenty of that in Albany with boys and girls basketball and track.

I then realized we needed something for students who were not in the athletics. Sometimes the students who didn’t want to play joined teams as managers. These students did a terrific job. However there wasn't a great deal of recognition for managers.

The first fair had nice activities and the displays were pretty simple. I had no requirements for displays as I wanted this to be about learning rather than displays.

Still one student set the bar very high for all of the others.The first place winner was a working camera and photo development. The camera was made from a camera lens attached to a garbage bag. 

A photo was taken by the student, and the film then placed in portable developing station he had built. He had red glass over a box in which the chemicals for film developing were stored. He would reach inside the box and move the film through the needed stages for development, while spectators could watch the entire process. Once the film was developed, he would make a positive image.

The resulting photos were then hung with clothes pins on a clothes line attached to stands he borrowed from my room.. 

Students were lining up to have their photo taken and developed as they watched. All through the process, Wayne described what he was doing and why. It was simply the most amazing science fair project I seen.The winners that year were Tim Vess, Terry Holesinger, and Wayne Kramer, with his photography studio..

The following year, I opened the science room at lunch time for students to work on their projects. I provided them with any needed equipment.

Some showed collections, other processes. We had three awards at the junior high level and one for elementary students.

The next fair was judged by Albany faculty who consented to participate. They made judgement based on the students’ knowledge of their project. The following photos show some of the projects. The first is the winning project of Terry Holesinger with one of the teacher judges, Ruth Chambers.

At the end we took a photo of everyone who entered and the winning trophies. It was a nice spring activity with good participation.Trophies were awarded to Todd Carpenter, elementary, Terry Holesigner, Tim Vess, and Robbie Bradley. 

The Last Science Fair 

This was my final year of teaching, although I didn’t know it at the time. I had just returned from a year working for Ralston Purina Corporation. During my year off, the interest in competition in science grew.

The projects were so elaborate, they are difficult to describe. One student, Robbie Bradley built an electric robot. It was home made with electric motors and reduction gears to allow it to move. Next to his project was a working model of a Mississippi Lock and Dam built by Terry Faley. The model had flowing water and lock walls that opened and closed. We also had many rockets from our Rocket Club.

Many of the other displays were also elaborate. I was glad I had asked science teachers from Fulton to judge this contest. The projects involved so much work it seemed a shame that all could not be awarded a trophy. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the winners.

As an added bonus, my son, Scott, a third grader at the time won the elementary division with a collection he had done on his own.

Several years later, after we had moved to Normal, IL,  Cathy and Judy of the "Cathy and Judy Show" on WGN radio held a science fair for adults.Connie entered a project on amount of trash collected on her daily walk. She is pictured with Cathy and Judy. They didn't award prizes, but I think she would have placed pretty high.

Educator Practical Jokes

You thought teachers were always serious at school? Not even close. Through the course of my teaching career and career as a principal, I have been involved in many pranks.

At Albany Grade School

The main entrance to Albany Grade included a canopy over the doorway. I assume it was to shelter people before they came in through the double doors. Although we had many entrances, this was the only one with a canopy. You can see it fairly well in the school photo from 1975. 

Besides having room for multiple people waiting to get inside, it also has room for a car, specifically a Volkswagon Beetle. How do I know this? Lynette, our PE teacher, drove a VW in the early years. One day after school when the students were gone, and before the faculty was allowed to leave, Denny, Gerry, and I pushed her car to the entrance. We then picked it up and put it tightly between the doors and the posts supporting the canopy. Not very safe, but very funny.

On another spring day, we found Bob, the principal, had left his car unlocked. He drove a 57 Ford every day. At some time earlier, my brother had given me a firework car bomb. While Bob was otherwise engaged, I opened the hood and connected the device across two spark plugs.  Several minutes later, while we waited nearby, he attempted to start his car. First there was a loud whistle like sound, then a loud pop, and smoke rolled out from the under the hood. He scrambled out of the car in a cloud of white. I don’t think he thought it was funny, but we did.

Irving Elementary School

The Irving faculty was a fun group. They were always playing tricks on each other like passing a Christmas ornament into each other’s mailbox. The most unwanted object  was the Irving Traveling Trophy.

The Irving Traveling Trophy was actually a student art project that somehow did not appear to be what the student intended to make. It was likely supposed to be a tower sculpture. The project was made from clay and then fired in the district kiln. Somehow it never went home with the student and remained at the school. No matter what it was supposed to be, it definitely appeared to be a giant dildo.

The Irving Traveling Trophy would usually reappear when someone wanted to recognize some dubious achievement of another faculty member. I cannot recall many of the awards, but I believe one of 6th grade teachers received it the first year of the state required achievement tests.

The state had spent millions developing the test and had great interest in maintaining security of the tests. We were required to account for all tests and return them to Springfield immediately after testing. Unfortunately Mr. B set them somewhere in his room where he was hosting a major paper recycling project. They were never seen again. For this he was awarded the Irving Traveling Trophy. Knowing him, I am sure he passed it on to another deserving staff member. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the ITT.

Although I never received the ITT, I did receive a number of staff initiated pranks. Since my birthday is in early December, school was almost always in session. One birthday, the staff had a little celebration in the morning before the students arrived. At this celebration, I was handed a string and instructed to follow it.

The string went out of the faculty workroom, through the office, out to the east main entrance, up the stairs to the second floor, down the second floor hallway to the west stair entrance, out the parking lot door, and under my car. There it ended in a case of beer, which I quickly put in my trunk.

In 1987, I turned 40 years old. The staff thought this should be recognized, so they bought me a black T-shirt and decorated my office in black paper. They often celebrated such milestones, but they went all out for me.

We met in the faculty workroom; they had purchased a large cake, decorated in black frosting. I was handed a cake slicing knife to cut pieces for all staff. Unfortunately I could not cut past the frosting. The cake was actually a 12 pack of beer cleverly decorated. 

While not another milestone, I did receive the birthday cake in the face award on numerous occasions. Fortunately there were plenty of kind staff members like Nancy and Gertie who would clean up after the pranksters. 

Then there was the year Shirley J. came armed with a headband squirt gun.  I am amazed that no one ever got angry over these pranks.

  

I am sure former colleagues will remember many more practical jokes from my time as an educator. Hopefully they will not be too embarrassing.

At least the faculty never put plastic wrap under the toiler seat as was done by the students at Albany Grade School the April Fools Day they caught my buddy Gerry.