St. Patrick students explore interests at academic fair
Everyone has a special interest, whether it is YouTube, Walt Disney World, movie special effects or dog sledding.
Eighth-grade students at St. Patrick Catholic School in Wadsworth had the opportunity to explore their interest and show it off in the annual Academic Fair.
Fifty-eight students worked on research projects on any topic they had an interest in during a 12-week period. The final result was a term paper, oral presentation and a visual display.
“It is all done at school and is 100 percent kid-produced,” said language arts teacher Adele Green. “The kids really enjoy it, and they are really interested in learning about each other’s topics.”
During the Academic Fair, all the classes at the school had a chance to see the various displays and talk to the students about their projects.
“I am doing robotics with all different types of robots,” said eighth-grade student Ian Goff of Wadsworth, showing off his display to a group of fourth-graders.
“My dad works at Uline, and he has a big robot cleaner and I really liked that one, so I said, ‘Hey! I want one.’ So, I went online and found one that I liked.”
The younger kids were excited to get the chance to operate the robots, watch YouTube videos and use a bow in archery.
“A lot of students think it’s really neat. They know that this is going to be them when they are in eighth grade,” Green said. “The older kids, sixth- and seventh-graders, really start to generate some ideas in some interest that they have when they see these projects.”