ROCHESTER — A baking soda volcano, two guinea pigs, a chicken and more filled the Rochester Memorial School cafeteria Thursday, May 15 as kids shared their experiments in a science fair during the school’s third annual STEAMapalooza.

Six days before the science fair, fourth grader Haley Owen woke up and realized she didn’t have an experiment, but after looking around her home, her eyes settled on her dog Moose, and she knew what she had to do: determine if a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a person’s by comparing bacteria, which she said is a common question people ask.

“So we just thought of, ‘Why not do it?’” Owen said.

Using Q-tips, Owen swabbed saliva samples, placed the samples in petri dishes, and waited for mold to grow, which she said took three days.

“I was a little worried that the mold was just going to spread and ruin the entire project, but it turned out really good,” she said.

Fifth graders Genevieve Bolduc and Fiona White decided to study what brand of food guinea pigs prefer after learning that other people were bringing in chickens to the science fair.

Both girls said the science fair was something fun to be a part of.

“You get to interact with animals, and lots of people love seeing them too,” White said.

Fourth graders Maggie Sommer and Avery Ruff, worked together to create an experiment focused around rainbows and how colors are made.

“We came up with this [because] someone said rainbows and Maggie was like, ‘What if we do rainbows?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I love rainbows!’” Ruff said.

During the fair, the girls demonstrated how to make a rainbow using a flashlight and shining it at a glass of water.

“We’re teaching people how rainbows form in the sky,” Sommer said.

Ruff explained how rainbows form, stating, “The sun is really a burst of color, and when it hits the rain, it infuses the color, which is creating the rainbow that we can see.”

This was the first year Sommer and Ruff participated in the science fair and said that it’s exciting but also nerve wracking.

“This  is our first time doing it together so we can kind of walk each other through it, but it’s still exciting and nervous at the same time,” Ruff said.

Owen, who has participated in two other science fairs, said they can be “a lot of work” but are also “really fun.”

“I think at the end, it’s just like all of your hard work pays off and everybody just gets to see it and have fun,” she said.