The Science Fair has become an annual tradition for Christian. This is the 6th year in a row that he has participated. Up to now, he has gotten one third place finish and 4 first place finishes. As far as accolades, there wasn't really much more to achieve. Most of his teachers have required participation as part of the advanced program, and if truth be told, Christian was getting a bit tired of it. Science projects are so much work, and he doesn't love presenting to the judges because it is scary. I also could sense that he was a little afraid of failure. After so many first place finishes, it would be a real let down if he didn't place. I understood how he was feeling, but encouraged him to do his best.
When the competition rolled around this year, he decided that he wanted to take his project from last year and improve it. Last year, he and Jonathon created "Triple M: The Mini Moisture Monitor." It was a small moisture monitor that you could put in potted plants. When the soil got dry, a little red light would flash, reminding you to water the plant. I have been using it for a year now, and it is huge success. He won the regional fair with it last year, but wasn't old enough to compete at the national level.
This year, he wanted to change it up a little bit so the battery would last longer and so the probes wouldn't corrode as easily. The changes would go a long ways toward making it more marketable if he ever wanted to actually sell it. Although it was still the same basic project, it took a lot of work to modify. Jonathon and Christian worked to program a different chip, used a different moisture probe, and created a new case. The new Triple M measures capacitance rather than resistance. I pretty much had no idea what they were talking about, but Christian actually explained capacitance to me, and I learned a whole lot... from my 11 year old! I guess he actually understands all of this, and that is why he does so well in the fairs.
For the final touch, Christian created a little mushroom case that he had 3D printed to put the moisture monitor in. He also came up with several other case designs for the future. I was so impressed with his skills in tinkercad (a 3D design program), and the mushroom looks so cute in the pots. The final project looked amazing! My part of the science fair is always helping make the presentation board. It's nice to know I am still needed for something! After all these years, we have the basic design of the board down to an art.
He advanced from his school fair to the district fair, and from the district fair to the Central Utah Regional Fair that was held at BYU. The projects there were the best of the best from all over the region. Again, he was less than thrilled to have to present to more judges (9 total this year). We never get to see him present, so we just have to go off of what he tells us after it is over. He said he thought it went well, but Christian is super mild-tempered, so I never know if he is excited or not. His even-keel personality will probably benefit him in a lot of ways, but it makes him difficult to read sometimes. When we got home, we found his number on the online list of projects that had received an award, but they don't tell you what award until the ceremony later that night.
Grandma Christensen was here to visit, so the three of us went to the awards ceremony at Mountain View High School. They went through tons of awards for all the various categories. 4th place, 3rd place, 2nd place, 1st place... When Christian's name didn't get called for any of those, we knew he had won Engineering GRAND CHAMPION again! We were so excited for him. It was definitely a proud, proud mom moment to hear his name called and see him walk up on stage in front of hundreds of people. He received a big trophy, a certificate, and $60 cash. He was also a Broadcom Masters finalist, which means he gets to go on to compete at a national level. The Broadcom Masters is not done in person, but is a series of essays that he will submit in June for judging.
It was definitely an exciting night for my awesome little engineer!
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