Watch out all you budding young scientists. Trey Soucie, Bigfork Elementary fifth grader, is getting comfortable winning the grand prize in local science fairs. In the fourth grade Trey won first place with his hand-crank static electric generator.

Trey Soucie and his grandpa, Scott Young, show off the Vande Graff static electric generator they built for competition.

The research began Trey said, "When I was finding information last year for the Vande Graff. I looked mostly on the internet, 'cept it was a lot harder." In addition, there are not any standard kits to construct this equipment. They had to locate very large surgical tubing and it took two stainless steel bowls soldered together to create the sphere. "Me and grandpa broke two saws building this," Trey explained.

The actual construction took almost two months when he and grandpa, Scott Young, would work after school and weekends between homework and karate classes. The two also built a simple motor made of three pop bottles that is powered by the generator. "I drank most of the pop but grandpa drank the root beer," said Trey happily.

Listening to Trey recite non-stop the details of construction, theory and operation is a testament to his enthusiasm for learning. The best part when demonstrating his Vande Graff generator is shocking people who walk by. He said they respond with, "Ouch or cool, and some say do it again or don't do that again." They estimate they have had the static charge from this generator as high as 400,000 volts.

Even with his competitive spirit, Trey encourages other students to "look-up" and do other projects. He didn't tell us what was next, but we hope it will continue to fit into the house.

Applications Received
& Approved

Flathead Valley

Community College

Defibrillators$3,000.00

Hungry Horse

Fire Department

Turnout Gear $5,000.00

KRMC Volunteers

Wheelchairs $3,933.36

South Kalispell

Fire Department

Roadside Safety
Equipment $2,200.00

Montana State Fish,

Wildlife and Parks

Safety Vests $8,850.00

Bigfork Schools

Caution Lights $10,000.00

Marion Volunteer

Fire Department

SCBA's $5,000.00

Libby Volunteer

Fire Department

Smoke Detectors $1,350.00

Kila Elementary School

Bike Path $10,000.00

Flathead Care

Train the Trainer $2,500.00

1 Application Denied

Roundup For Safety is a voluntary program for FEC members.

Participating members allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the next dollar, with the extra money going into a fund for community safety projects.

Applications from non - profit groups are considered each month by a board of directors representing each Co-op district.

For information and application forms, call 751-4483 in Kalispell and 293-7122 in Libby.