12-YEAR-OLD TURNS SCIENCE INTO ARTWORK.Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer Twelve-year-old Traci Watanabe entered the Ventura County Science Fair drawing contest on a whim whim n. 1. A sudden or capricious idea; a fancy. 2. Arbitrary thought or impulse: governed by whim. 3. A vertical horse-powered drum used as a hoist in a mine. , figuring she could earn extra credit from one of her teachers and have a little fun doing it. But the Colina Middle School Colina Middle School is a public school located in Thousands Oaks, California, United States, part of the Conejo Valley Unified School District. The motto is "Work Hard, Make Friends, and Have Fun." The school mascot is the Colina Cougar. seventh-grader wound up producing the winning sketch that will be used to promote the Science Fair coming up in April. Traci, who lives in Newbury Park, drew examples of science discoveries and inventions to show the importance of the field. A computer, an astronaut astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. , test tubes and a kite catching electricity can all be seen in her sketch. In big letters across the top, it leaves no question what she's drawing about: ``SCIENCE.'' ``I wasn't really going to do that drawing first. I was going to draw people,'' Traci said. ``But I'm not good at drawing people.'' Traci was one of five students chosen in her class to take part in countywide coun·ty·wide adv. & adj. Throughout a whole county: found at locations countywide; a countywide search. Adj. 1. contest. Nearly 30 entries were submitted in all, county officials said. Traci said she's always liked drawing, and saw the project as a good chance to help improve a grade. ``I didn't think I did very well on a test I took,'' Traci said. ``And I sort of did it for fun.'' Traci said she was surprised when school administrators told her she'd won, and her family - including her mother, father two sisters and a brother - was pretty excited. ``They thought it was great, they were real impressed im·press 1 tr.v. im·pressed, im·press·ing, im·press·es 1. To affect strongly, often favorably: ,'' Traci said. Traci plans to enter the Science Fair, and is considering a project in which ice cubes cubes See QQQ. would be placed in plastic cups of different colors and left in the sun to see how quickly they melt. ``I guess you can see which color the sun can go through fastest,'' Traci said. ``I haven't tried it yet because there hasn't been any sun.'' |
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