Issue link: http://fairmont.uberflip.com/i/100291
2012 highlights Pictured: Fairmont students explaining their project ���Hearing the World���s Silent Side��� to California Congressman Ed Royce in Washington, D.C. FOUR YOUNG VISIONARIES WIN NATIONAL toshiba ExploraVision SCIENCE COMPETITION Four fifth graders from Fairmont���s Historic Anaheim Campus demonstrated their top-notch talent for scientific innovation in Toshiba���s 2012 ExploraVision Competition. ExploraVision is the largest student science/technology competition in the world at the elementary level, with 4,807 competing teams this year. The Fairmont team, led by science teacher Kathryn Baham, was named the National First place winner in the 4th-6th grade division for their project ���Hearing the World���s Silent Side.��� The team members were Chloe Shin, Taylor Tran, Riya Beri, and Raj Sawhney. The ExploraVision competition challenges kindergarten through 12th graders to propose how a current technology might be used 20 years in the future. Fairmont���s team of students studied the cochlear implant (a hearing aid) and was shocked to discover that with today���s technology doctors are still unable to help patients with deafness caused by auditory nerve damage. To find a solution, the students looked to the technology that is currently being tested for spinal cord injuries and wondered if that technology could be re-purposed in deaf patients. The answer, it turned out, was yes. 5 | www.fairmontschools.com Applying this innovative thinking, the students came up with their product: ���Hearing the World���s Silent Side��� [HWSS]. HWSS is a mixture of two components: nanofibers used in spinal cord technology and a 2012 cochlear implant. In HWSS, the nanofibers are used to coat the auditory nerve. When sound waves enter the ear they are able to bypass the nerve damage. The nanofiber technology supplements the modern cochlear implant to result in a solution for hearing loss caused by auditory nerve damage. As first place winners, each of the four students received a U.S. EE Savings Bond worth $10,000 at maturity. Additionally, the students, their parents, and their teacher Mrs. Baham received an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the ExploraVision Awards Weekend May 30-June 2, 2012. The weekend included a visit to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, a Science Showcase during which the students displayed and demonstrated their winning ideas, a Satellite Media Tour with Bill Nye the Science Guy, and a Gala Awards Banquet. Our ten-year-old students made memories that will last a lifetime during this incredible six-month project, all while creating a technology that may truly help people overcome hearing loss in the future.