Nearly 600 Montana middle and high school students displayed their scientific knowledge at the 61st annual Montana Science Fair March 21-22 at the University of Montana.

Students competed in either Division 1 (high school) or Division 2 (middle school). There were 16 categories. Local students competed in the following sciences: biological, behavioral and social science, environment, physical, or plant.

West Valley School won the Middle School Outstanding School Award for Small Junior High.

West Valley sixth- through eighth-grade students earned one first-place, four second-place and one third-place grand awards. The school also had 16 exhibits that earned gold ribbons and nine that earned silver ribbons.

Emily Cleveland of West Valley earned the first-place grand award for best seventh-grade exhibit for her project, “Smart Salt.”

Cleveland’s exhibit also earned a Peterson Grand Award for overall best seventh-grade biological exhibit and a Division 2 award from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for best project relating to fish, wildlife or water quality.

Two Kalispell Middle School students earned first-place grand awards: Mackenzie Marsh for best sixth-grade biological science exhibit, “Shedding light on plants,” and Luke Ritzdorf for best eighth-grade physical science exhibit, “Using a Towable Conductivity-mapping System to Locate Springs or Septic Leachate.”

Both Marsh and Ritzdorf earned Peterson Grand awards for overall best sixth-grade biological exhibit and overall best eighth-grade physical exhibit, respectively.

Four West Valley students achieved second-place grand awards: sixth-grader Riley Grace, seventh-grader Kenzie Williams, seventh-grader Emily Hanson and eighth-grader Emma Paulson.

Paulson also received the Northern Rocky Mountain Branch of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science Division 2 Award for outstanding project in bioscience.

Third-place grand awards went to West Valley sixth-graders Morgan Nicholson and Samuel Ells.

Among high school exhibitors, Columbia Falls High School’s Colin Norick earned the fourth-place grand for his behavioral and social sciences project, “The Correlation of Lexile Level and Reading Comprehension while Multitasking,” and Annabel Conger was given the fifth-place grand award for her behavioral and social sciences project, “The Effect of Negative Campaigning in Young Voters.”

Norick also received the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Science Research Award.

Caleb Morgan’s “Luminol” exhibit earned the Montana Crime Lab Award for best project relating to forensic science. Morgan is a student at West Valley.

Following is a list of local students whose projects earned either gold, silver or bronze ribbons.

Columbia Falls

Gold

Kathleen Bellon, “How Tooth Decay Relates to the pH Levels in Saliva: The Acid Levels Within the Mouth,” biological.

Amanda Bevan, “Comparing Overall Protein Content to Overall Gluten Content in Modern versus Ancient Wheat Samples,” Division 1 plant.

Annabel Conger, “The Effect of Negative Campaigning in Young Voters,” Division 1 behavioral and social science

Colin Norick, “The Correlation of Lexile Level and Reading Comprehension while Multitasking,” Division 1 behavioral and social science.

Silver

Derik Butts, “The Effects of Temperature on Teenage Cognitive Performance,” Division 1 behavioral and social science.

Gabrielle Merrell, “Impacts of El Nino on Columbia Falls and correlations to large fire years in Glacier National Park,” Division 1 environment.

Angelina LePiane and Alyssa Williams, “Carbonation Over Flow,” physical.

Bronze

Grace Gedlaman, “Whirls, Twirls and Spins,” biological.

Evergreen Junior High School

Silver

Piper Hadley, “Soda Spheriphication,” physical.

Bronze

Aurora Jaeger-Kelly, “Water in its Frozen Version,” physical

Kalispell Middle School

Gold

Shelbie Guckenberg, “Basic

Sponges vs. Antibacterial Sponges,” biological.

Alexandra Houseworth, “Absorbing Oil Spills with Organic Materials,” physical.

Mackenzie Marsh, “Shedding light on plants,” biological.

Jakob Ritzdorf, “Blowgun Accuracy,” physical.

Luke Ritzdorf, “Using a Towable Conductivity-mapping System to Locate Springs or Septic Leachate,” physical.

Silver

Hannah Geiger, “Biogases From Food Scraps,” biological.

Lily Milner, “Mouse vs. Gecko,” biological.

Home school

(Kalispell)

Silver

Colter Harris, “Prop It Up,” physical.

Somers Middle School

Bronze

Brannt Fahrney, “Which Paper Towel Brand,” physical.

St. Matthew’s School

Gold

Ganten Pirrie and Cooper Smith, “Just How Much Blue Dye?” physical.

Isaac Schroeder, “The helping hand,” physical.

Silver

Ethan Hawkins and Kian Saadi, “Fishtank Roomba,” physical.

Cobe Lewin, “Power of Prayer,” biological.

Carlin Manning, “Eye Spy,” biological.

Kendra Mcfarland, “HOOPS?” physical.

Bronze

Paul Cornish, “Cookie Monster,” physical.

Stillwater

Christian School

Silver

Connor Drish, “Wood Burning,” physical.

Tessa Harmon, “Electrified,” physical.

Lucas Mckerrow, “Study Tips From A Cell Phone,” biological.

Julia Wynne, “Can Memory Be Manipulated?” biological.

West Valley School

Gold

Luke Bilau, “Lax Throw,” physical.

Joshua Broughton, “Gut Wars,” biological.

Marilla Carlson, “French Fry Frenzy,” biological.

Emily Cleveland, “Smart Salt,” biological.

Samuel Ells, “Fat As Fuel,” physical.

Riley Grace, “Crystals,” physical.

Emily Hanson, “Effects of Ocean Acidification on a Coral Skeleton,” biological.

Zephy Hanson, “Trash or Treasure,” biological.

Kostya Hoffman, “Liftin’ Weights,” biological.

Ellie Keller, “Photastic Radiation,” physical.

Morgan Nicholson, “Fuel The Burn,” biological

Emma Paulson, “Planaria vs. Magnets,” biological.

Alexis Peck, “See The Light,” physical.

Hannah Stolfus, “Keep Calm And Moisturize,” biological.

Hailey Timlick, “Palm ‘n Turn,” biological.

Kenzie Williams, “Electricity from Waste?” physical.

Silver

Eric Anderson, “Sports Drink Science,” physical.

Cody Bicknell, “Magnetic Motor Madness,” physical.

Cody Carson, “Bad Hair Day,” biological.

Kennedy Crosby, “The Effect of Nitrates on Duckweed Growth,” biological.

Makenna Hartle, “Water is the New Soil,” biological.

Paige Hurst, “Cloud Chamber,” physical.

Caleb Morgan, “Luminol,” physical.

Joe Schlegel, “Tsunami Surge,” physical.

Lauren Wilson, “Fluctuating Attraction,” physical.

Whitefish Christian Academy

Silver

Logan Mercer, “Effects of Caffeine on Reaction Time,” biological.

Bronze

Hannah Amick and Allison Miller, “The Effects of D-Limonene Extracted from Various Citrus Fruits on Expanded Polystyrene,” biological.