OXNARD : 13 Science Fair Winners Bring Renown to Fremont Intermediate

In a recent field test, bacterial counts in seawater tested in Ventura’s San Jon Barranca and the Ventura Keys exceeded state water-quality standards for swimming and fishing.

Though the results might raise eyebrows among beach-goers and environmentalists, the real surprise is that the research scientist was an eighth-grade student at Fremont Intermediate School in Oxnard.

“They were the worst of the 10 sites I tested,” 14-year-old Kim Griffiths said of the two Ventura drainage outfalls.

“You couldn’t see the bottom, and a greenish foam was floating on the surface.”

The level of coliform bacteria in the water at the two sites was more than 10 times greater than state health officials consider safe, she said her study demonstrated.

Kim was one of 13 Fremont students whose work was honored at this year’s Ventura County Science Fair, establishing the Oxnard school as a leader in science education in the county.

Among the other Fremont students who were honored were David Gorcey, whose exhibit on how artificial light affects the growth of plants was the top eighth-grade environmental entry, and Linda Koffman, whose study of the magnetic properties of metal in induction motors was named the top physics exhibit for seventh-graders.

David later took third place at the California Science Fair in Los Angeles.

Kim was one of two students in her family to be honored.

Her brother Jon placed first among county seventh-graders for an environmental study on the corrosion rates of different alloys in seawater.

Jon and Kim also received Environmental Science Awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals and Management Service, which oversees the offshore oil industry.

The work of the sibling scientists impressed Fred Piltz, the chief of the environmental studies section for the Minerals and Management Service who was a judge at this year’s county science fair.

“What struck me was that Kim’s project relates to the health of the ocean, something that’s very relevant today,” Piltz said.

“And Jon’s work on corrosion was very important to our agency because we certify offshore oil platforms.”

Science teacher Tim Peddicord, whom administrators credit with increasing student interest in science at Fremont, requires all his students to complete a science project.

“The science fair helps motivate kids,” Peddicord said.

“They do their own original science, and that’s what is really fun. When kids focus on something that interests them, they love it.”