Science Fair

Cassandra got selected as one of the 8th Graders to move along to the Science Fair in school and we were lucky to get there in time for Saturday morning at 10.30am, when she was going to be judged. I write lucky, as we hardly made it in time. Normally, it takes us about 30 minutes using the back roads to get to her school, and I still left with extra margin to be there early. Still, as you never know, we got stuck in traffic, and things didn't move along at all for about 20 minutes, and it was crunch time and we just got in the door at 10.30am!

A bit stressed, but they hadn't reached her table yet, which was a relief, as it doesn't look good to not even be on time!

Cassandra did a wonderful job, she had really read up on her subject and didn't need to look at the flash cards with bullet points that she brought just in case she would loose track. There were many judges to impress, first a set of 5 people, and after they had finished their questions in the end, a new set of judges came and then their questions. So she was up there for more than 30 minutes talking about, explaining and answering questions. Very intense, but they seemed happy and she was able to answer all questions without hesitation!

I was able to sit close by, not able to hear anything, but close enough to see the judges nod, and look pleased. I also saw them circle things on their papers to the very right, which was where the higher scores were on the chart for the different judging parts.

Zach also made it to the Science fair and was presenting at the same time in next isle..

Finally over, phew! 

She did a great job, they seemed very pleased, and now the waiting game until Monday would begin, where the finalists would be announced. A few people out of each grade would move up to the next level and compete to the other schools.

These pictures I took the morning she brought her board and project into school. Always good to take a picture as proof in case something would happen with the board, it would brake, it would get lost etc.

She worked hard on it as always, and continued to the next level of her project that she did last year back in Yuma, AZ. Last year, her project was about how high the ozone would be in the desert. As we now have moved from a a desert climate, to a subtropical humid island climate, she was interested to see how the reading would be here, with totally different climates.

Here in this school, they were much more strict on what was supposed to be placed on the board or not. Certain things had to be in a certain amount of paragraphs and font size and it was hard to even fit everything on the board! Therefore, there weren't enough space for as many pictures that she wanted, but she could add more into her report instead.

When Monday came around, it was announced that she did move up to the final!! So proud of her, not that I ever thought that she wouldn't, but still, you can never be too sure!

She had to miss school on the following Friday and take a bus to another base, where the finals were held. There were a LOT of entries, and only the top three were given an award with medal, the rest received a participation award.

 She looked so pretty when she left in the morning with her new dress!

She did not place one of the top three placements, but we are super proud of her for going to the finals, and the hard work she put into the project. As always, it's weeks of studying and it's time that isn't given in school, but needs to be done evenings and weekends. On top of all the normal heavy workload of homework, it was intense for a few months, so she was very happy that this was over for this year!!

Bus picture taken with Cassie's phone on the way back from the Science Fair final with some of the 8th graders in the picture.

Hello November!

Goodbye October and Hello November!! Wow, did October go by really fast! Or was it because we were busy with so much fun things and the weeks just flew by, or was it because we were so busy planning and organizing our move? Nevertheless, it's not just one more month down this year, not just a few weeks away from Thanksgiving and another month closer to Christmas, it's also another month closer to our move!!! Countdown to move - leaving in about 4 months in the beginning of February. Time to get busy!!

What has changed though here just in time for November to start, the weather is getting cooler! Finally!! We have had temperatures in the 80's and today even in the 70's. That's right, only around 26-28C and today only 72F/23C at the moment! Yes, we are enjoying it, and let me tell you, it feels COLD with the wind with 23 degrees Celsius if you are used to the temperatures to be over the double!!

It does really feels like October flew by and we were still in a waiting mood, waiting for November to come and there is so much to do. A lot of work for everyone. For my husband as normal, for me here at home getting organized, and for Cassie in school as there are a lot of tests and assignments coming up before Thanksgiving break. She also has to get moving on her Science Project. Normally this is a HUGE project that takes up a lot of work and it gets turned in around Spring break. It takes up a really big portion of the year's Grade in Science, and Cassie has done exceptionally well on the last ones, and especially the very last one last year, where she actually won the whole Science Fair, so she doesn't really want to miss out on this big project, as it would mean a very low Grade.

Due to the move, she will not be here when they are turned in, and coming to Okinawa, she will also miss out of some work and maybe the deadline of their Science Projects etc. And coming to the island, it might take a month or so before we have her into the right school, as it takes some time to get housing, and before we know where we will get housing, we can't enroll her or her siblings into a school..

Therefore, we have asked the Science teacher if Cassie can do her Science Project early, to be able to get it graded before we leave and the teacher approved this. She would then get a recommendation letter sent with it, with hopefully a good Grade, which will help her if she misses their deadline in Okinawa. It's not easy to change school in the middle of the year, and this move will for sure be a bit extreme in many ways. She hasn't been too motivated to do this now, as none of her friends have even started thinking about it, it has been a lot of volleyball going on with 2-3 times/week, and that's a lot with the daily homework too. So, this weekend I've told her she needs to have a plan, she needs to have some good ideas, which we then can go over and see what would work and what would be a good project for a 7th Grader. It's time to get started, because none of us wants to sit around over Christmas break with this!!!

Awards Ceremony

Last night, it was time for the Awards Ceremony for the winners of the Yuma County Science & Engineering Expo that Cassandra was selected for. We had looked forward that Chris would be able to come too, as he was supposed to be off work, but then this plane crash came in between... and plans got changed. Well, Cassie understood that it is what it is, and I think most upset was Chris that he couldn't come and see his daughter getting an award.

So just before 6pm last night, the kids and I were taking seats in the front row in the auditorium to have a good view for hopefully being able to get a few good shots. Cassie was nervous and we all were so excited!

Checking out the program for the evening.

 Guest Speaker Mayor Douglas J. Nicholls, City of Yuma

After the long introduction of all the sponsors, and all the work that has been put behind this big Science Fair, it was time for the names to be presented of the winners. The jury had selected three projects within the same category for Elementary School (here strangely enough because of some of the Charter schools, up to 6th Grade) Middle School, and High School. In total there were over 450 projects taking part in this Science Fair, so to even make it to the top 3 within each category was very good! The categories were:

- Botany

- Chemistry & Biochemistry

- Earth & Environmental Science

- Engineering & Technology

- Health, Medicine, & Microbiology

- Physics

- Zoology

They started to call the names for third, second and first place within the category and when we came to the third category, it was exciting!! Third place name was called, then second and then we knew:  Cassie had won FIRST PLACE in her category "Earth & Environmental Science". It was a lot of names called, and it went very fast to get up on stage, get your Award, your check (yes, there was money involved from the sponsors, first place $100, second place $75 and third place $50.) and thank all the people on the stage. Then wait for all the names for the rest of the categories to be called and then they took a group photo, then back down again, to be continued with Middle - and High School.

Third place, Second Place and First Place in the 

category Earth & Environmental Science waiting for their Awards. 

 Thanking the people on stage, which also represented the sponsors this evening. 

The two gentlemen in the suits are:

Mr. Tom Tyree, Yuma County School Superintendent  to the very right is again the 

Mayor, Douglas J. Nicholls, City of Yuma.

 Getting the ribbons.

Cassie's friends from school, that had worked on a project about insulin, K and A, won third price in their category "Health, Medicine, & Microbiology". Another girl from school, G in stripes, won second place in the same category. When there were more than one person working on a project, they had to split the Award money.

 So so very proud of this girl!!

After all the Awards had been given, it was all over, and we had to pick up Cassie's project. I wish that they all would have been presented in categories and in order how they placed, as it would have been interesting to compare, but now they were all just standing along the wall, to be picked up. It would have been especially interesting to see what the judges were wanting to see in the Middle School projects that she will hopefully compete in next year. 

While we walked out, we met her Science teacher Mrs. D, who was there to congratulate her. She was so proud of her, and it was nice to see that she was there to support her students. This lady will be one of Cassie's favorite teachers of all time, I'm sure.

We tried to send Chris a few pictures from the car, but they wouldn't go through, as his connection wasn't the best out in the desert. Later on in the evening though, he managed to Skype really short, and was so happy and proud when Cassie told him. I'm sure he was even more upset after this accomplishment to win first place, that he couldn't be there as planned.

We are so very proud of her, she worked hard on this, it was not something that was finished in a few days, but we had these crystals growing in the kitchen for about 2 months and it was stressful, a lot of work and we were all happy when it was done! So it's even more satisfying to see that her hard work paid off!

To read more about the Yuma County Science & Engineering Expo, click on this link, there you can read all about the different criteria that are judged in the projects. They also have an updated list of all the winners from last night!

Yuma County Science Fair

It's now over a week ago, when Cassie went to the County Science Fair at the Arizona Western College. We picked her up from school on Thursday afternoon to bring the presentation to the AWC for checking in and set up for the next day.

We checked in her project, and while we were setting up we also had a quick look around to see what her competition was. And what should I say, some of them I really wondered how they made it to the Fair, and some of them I wonder how the teachers could even approve of making...

This presentation didn't really feel complete..

 And a presentation on ammunition and firearms doesn't feel too 

appropriate in a school setting??!

 This is the project on insulin that her friends made.

The judging is about to start of hundreds of presentations.

Cassie and her friend K is getting nervous..

Waiting to be called for the oral presentation by her presentation board.

Going over the presentation a few more times while waiting..

I had packed a lot of entertainment for the twins to keep them occupied, as there wasn't much else to do there for them but to wait and sit around..

Waiting for their numbers to be called out..

Excited to hear how Cassie's presentation went!

Done with presentation, all smiles!!

After hours of judging and waiting around, we were so excited to hear the winners being called up to the podium to receive an invitation to the Award Ceremony on May 12th. There were a lot o people waiting, students, teachers and parents, and it was a lot of noise going on, which almost made it impossible to hear the numbers. BUT, after a few numbers, number 202 - Cassie's number was called!!

It went so fast, so not so good pictures, but here she is getting 

her invitation to the Award Ceremony!

Her friends K and A, who worked together on a project, also won and got invitations. 

Now it's going to be interesting to see if any of them will win any higher prices and money! Monday evening we will know!!

I'm so proud of you sweetie! You have worked so hard on this project and even if money isn't the most important, the recognition is really something!! But still, if she would end up winning 3-1 price, and money, it would be an extra bonus and for her it's a lot of money with winning $50, $100 or $150!!

I asked Cassie if she wanted an ice cream or something on the way home, and she told me that she wanted a Caramel Frappuccino. Lucky me, we happened to get there just before 5pm, and got there in time for Frappuccino Happy Hour, two for one!