Manak with Jenny Christian, Dallas ISD’s STEM Science Director (Photo courtesy of Paul Manak).
It isn’t every day that a sixth grader builds a force field. When J.L. Long student Roan Manak did so for the Dallas I.S.D science fair, he won first place among all the middle school students in the district in the Engineering Mechanics category.
“When I was younger, I wanted to make a force field,” said Manak. He used speakers to create a standing wave of sound, trapping air between sound waves that repelled BBs when they were rolled toward the speaker. He calls it the “Incrediwall.”
Manak’s passion has been science since third grade. He writes down scientific ideas in a journal, wants to be an inventor and makes new contraptions out of household objects.
Manak’s father helped with the soldering and his mother guided his presentation skills. “They both have their subjects where they help,” he says.
More than 6,000 science fair entries filled the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center for the fair. As judges made their way around the room, they spent a good amount of time with Manak asking questions. Between the judges’ attention and the encouragement from his classmates, Manak had an inkling he would do well. “You got it in the bag,” his classmates told him.
“I was really happy,” Manak says. “A lot of my friends were there with me.”
He will compete in the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair Feb. 24. Check out a video interview with Manak here.
Photo courtesy of Paul Manak
