STATE SCIENCE FAIR
Holloway student places first

Holloway Middle School student Jared Raabe shows off the first place medal he won at the state science fair. Jared is standing in front of his project board, "Built a Better Bat?"

Whitehouse sixth-grader Jared Raabe improved on his fifth-place finish at the regional science fair to take top honors in the physics and astronomy division at the state science fair, held last week in San Antonio.

With more than 600 students competing in various divisions at the junior level (fifth through eighth grades), Jared impressed the judges with his indepth and meticulously documented experiment, "Built a Better Bat?"

"I'm very pleased and very proud of Jared," said Holloway honors science instructor Jenny Wallace. "This is a very impressive accomplishment, and I think Jared's ver y deserving. He works very hard."

Jared's experiment examined the effect of weight and velocity on a bat's swing. Jared chose six bats and built a device (utilizing mailbox post, garage door spring and a 2x4) that would let him swing the bats at a constant force. He then experimented with the weight of the bats and different points of contact, determining "sweet spots."

One of the charts featured on Jared's project board

Using a ball on a "tee" and a radar gun, Jared also measured and averaged the speeds of the different bats, weights and contacts.

Ultimately, Jared determined that the deciding factor was determining the optimal moment of inertia.

"It was pretty cool to win, to do something that doesn't happen very often," said Jared, adding that it was "neat to know I beat people who live in places like Dallas and Houston."

Jared earned the trip to state by winning second in the physical science division at district, held at Tyler Junior College, and placing fifth at the regional competition in Kilgore.

Prior to those events, he competed with 98 other honors science students at Holloway's science fair. Mrs. Wallace judged those entries and chose the projects which would advance to district.

This was the first year that the school chose to compete beyond district, resulting in two state qualifiers (Braden Robey also advanced past regionals) and Jared's win.

Wallace

Thanks to his state success, Jared is eligible to enter the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge, but probably won't.

"It's a LOT of paperwork," said Jared, who also plays baseball and takes karate lessons.

Science fair competitiors enter the same projects as they advance through the levels, but are allowed to expand or make modifications. For his state trip, Jared added a statistical comparison to his already comprehensive findings.

The students must create project boards which outline their experiments, including hypothesis, findings and conclusion.

For Jared, the best part of advancing to state was the experience itself.

"It was good to get a feel for how to talk to the judges and to see what it would be like," said the son of Vicki and Todd Raabe.

Considering how well he did on his first outing, that knowledge should only make Jared an even stronger competitor in the future.