by Katie Dunnell
Staying at school until 10:30 pm in Ms. Snyder’s room is a regular occurrence the night before the regional science fair for competitive contestants Shannon Hogan and Kat Volk. The girls have entered the regional science fair ever since their sophomore year at Hudson High and have placed in the top five each year. Placing in the top five comes along with cash prizes as well as the chance to move on to states. They have been preparing for regionals all school year long and are just about ready to present their work.
For the past three years, they have been working on the same project but decided to start something totally new this school year.
“We’ve decided to focus on Alternative Septic Systems and whether or not they’re worth the extra money,” Shannon says.
Alternative Septic Systems recycle water used from household dishwashers, sinks, laundry machines, and showers. The recycled water appears gray, so many people question if the water is clean and safe enough to reuse.
“We are going to test the recycled water for fecal coliform which is a type of E. Coli. We are also testing for Salmonella. We work at a local greenhouse which Ms. Snyder helped us get in contact with. There we take water from the condensation of the greenhouse, which is all recycled, and place it in petri dishes to see if any bacteria grows or not. If bacteria does grow, we need to identify what it is. If bacteria doesn’t grow, we will promote the use of alternative septic systems,” Shannon says.
The girls spend time nearly every day after school testing samples of water from the greenhouse.
“It’s a lot of work and can be really frustrating when our results don’t come out as expected and sometimes we end up having to work way longer and later than we had originally planned,” Shannon says.
“In order to make it to states we need to place in the top four in the upcoming regional fair. States will be held at MIT this year, and I really hope we can make it back there again.”