SANTA PAULA : 2,000 Students Take Part in Science Fair

Straws formed death-defying downhill slopes, paper tubes turned into eerie tunnels and Ping-Pong balls became hurtling cars as 35 Isbell Middle School students struggled to build prize-winning roller coasters Tuesday at a science fair in Santa Paula.

They were among 2,000 students participating in a three-day science fair that ends Thursday at the Barbara Webster School, a computer technology and science magnet school in the Santa Paula Elementary School District.

“We wanted to turn the science fair into hands-on participation on the spot,” said Roger Stillman, an Isbell science teacher who is coordinating this year’s fair.

One of the events at this year’s fair is called the MacGyver Team Competition, named for the television character who escapes tight squeezes by being inventive with household objects.

Students were challenged to build a roller coaster using items such as paper clips, tape, rubber bands, chopsticks and gum. It wasn’t easy.

Keeping the Ping-Pong balls on the straw tracks proved the most daunting task for many of the students. But keeping the tracks elevated with chopsticks was also a bit of a problem.

“The chopsticks kept breaking,” said 12-year-old Rafael Robles, whose team won second place. “We should have made it steeper, longer, higher and faster.”

Winners of the event will get T-shirts and publicity photos from Dana Elcar, “MacGyver” co-star and artistic director of the Santa Paula Theater Center, during a Thursday night awards ceremony at Webster, Stillman said.

In addition to the MacGyver Team Competition, which concludes today with kindergartners through fifth-graders, the science fair includes an invention category, a rain forest exhibit and an exploratorium where students can conduct experiments on their own.

Science fair winners in grades six through eight will be eligible for county and state competitions, said Webster Principal James Medina.