Fire inspires winning science fair project
Published: August 25, 2006
Three years ago, David Cohn watched as flames from the Cedar wildfire loomed toward his bedroom window.
“It was really scary,” the 14-year-old said. “I really thought I was going to lose my home.”
The fire missed his Poway house by a few blocks, but for weeks afterward the sky stayed dark during daylight, the air thick with ash.
“David would say, ‘The house smells like a barbecue,’ ” said his mother, Dorian Cohn. “I was stuffing rags under the doors to try to keep the smell out.”
The traumatic experience inspired David, then 11, to explore the effects of wildfire on the local habitat. He wondered how the devastated terrain would ever flourish again – that it might not horrified him, he said.
He asked his mother to help him survey the burned areas. Eventually, they formalized the trips and marked five squares of land to study in a preserve near the High Valley Estates in Poway.
What David found over the course of three years earned him more than $6,000 and Project of the Year recently in the 55th annual California State Science Fair in the Junior Division. It is the first time in 10 years that a San Diego County resident received the award, said his teacher, Roxanne Hunker, at The Rhoades School in Encinitas.
“It’s huge because only one student in the state wins,” Hunker said. “It’s the best of the best you’re competing against.”
Hunker’s students have made it to the state level since 1997. In 2004, she was awarded Science Fair Teacher of the Year for the Junior Division.
This year, 967 participants from across California were accepted into the fair, which has a junior division for sixth-through eighth-graders and a senior division for ninth-through 12th-graders. About 300 research scientists, college professors and high school science teachers acted as judges.
David said he believes he won Project of the Year, in part, because of how well he understood his research.
“It’s not just having a good project, but being able to explain it to all ages,” he said. “Presentation is a key part to succeeding.”
David can easily rattle off the scientific names of plants he found, as well as the scientific methods he used to study their growth and regeneration. He was surprised to find most of the plants that grew back were native to the area.
He read numerous field guides to get to know local flora. He interviewed fire officials to understand how fire burns and read articles to compare various wildfires.
In his research, David was bitten by a dog and almost bitten by an adult rattlesnake, said his mother.
“This is a hard project,” Dorian Cohn said. “The brush is probably 8 to 10, maybe 12 feet tall now in some places. You’ve got to be really careful. The environment is really treacherous.”
But David has always been motivated to learn, she said. In the second grade, he asked to study Chinese because some of his friends were Chinese.
“(China) seemed so far away,” David said. “I was always fascinated; it seemed like such a different culture.”
He also studies Spanish and Hebrew and plays soccer and golf and swims.
“He’s a challenge to keep up with,” said his mother. “But when a kid gets satisfied, it’s really beautiful.”
David continues to research the plots he marked and plans to present a more comprehensive report next year at the science fair.
Some of the plant samples he has collected will be cataloged in the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Twelve students from The Rhoades School in Encinitas earned a spot in the Junior Division of the 55th annual California State Science Fair.
David Cohn won Project of the Year.
Heather Barnes won second place in the Material Science category and Wesley SooHoo received fourth place in the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology category.
The others were: Robert Calvo, Tiffany Chu, Jordan Harris, Joanna Jacobs, Christian Lucero, Carolina Palmer, Bryanna Paulson, Georgiana Salant and Luke Van Houten.
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