Sierra Madre Whiz Kid of the Week: Ethan Gauthier

Ethan Gauthier, 8th Grader at St. Rita School in Sierra Madre, took top honors at the school’s Science Fair.

Grand Prize winner, Gauthier, explained his project, called “Runaway Runoff:”

“I tested runoff from four types of soil for nitrates and phosphates.  Runoff is water not absorbed by soil that flows into waterways. When contaminated by nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer, it contributes to the formation of dead zones in oceans.  I created a control trial without fertilizer and ran three trials with the addition of inorganic fertilizer. The garden soil runoff contained the highest levels of phosphates and the results from the nitrate trials were inconclusive. People can help reduce contaminated runoff by using the correct amount of fertilizer in their yards.”

The school chose Gauthier as overall science fair winner, with twelve additional winners recognized. In Grade 6: 1st Place went to Gwendolyn Howes, 2nd to Zachary Marikian, 3rd to Jonathon Clarizio, 4th to Tommy Radle. In 7th grade, 1st place went to Noah Gohrick, 2nd to Heather Hanzo, 3rd to Christopher Dal Ponte 4th to Natalie Hernandez-Barber. In Grade 8, 1st place was awarded to Kayla Rix, 2nd to Addison Alvarado, 3rd place to Rachel Wiggins, and 4th to Reece Aguilar and Ben Poon.

This year’s science fair took place as part of a week filled to bursting with events tied in with Catholic Schools Week, which included a display of all the projects open to the public, delivering a small plant to local businesses in appreciation of what they offer the community, a family dinner, “Butterflies” performance by the kindergarten, a School Mass, a mini spelling bee for the underclassmen, and the “real” spelling bee, which will send the winner on to the next level of competition in LA County.