Two Senators' Daughters Win Magnolia Elementary Science Fair; Hill Takes Quiet Notice

Sofia Calma and Valentina Alcance, both age eleven and both students in Mrs. Patricia Oberhoff's sixth-grade classroom at Magnolia Public Elementary School, took first place at the school's annual science fair on Friday afternoon with a project titled "Small Kindnesses, Measurable Effect: A Six-Week Study of Classroom Attendance." The project, which the students conducted entirely during their own recess periods, involved introducing one small anonymous act of kindness per school day into a single classroom and tracking the attendance data against a control group over the six-week period.

The study found a measurable increase in attendance in the experimental classroom. The students were careful, in their presentation, not to overstate their findings.

The Families.

The Calma and Alcance families have been neighbors in the same district for the better part of two decades. The two girls have attended the same school since kindergarten. Their mothers serve in the Senate together — Senator Marisol Calma with the Reflective Coalition, Senator Luisa Alcance with the Expansive Coalition — though the families have made it a practice, according to both senators' offices, not to discuss coalition business at dinners or at school events.

Senator Calma, reached after the assembly, confirmed that she was present in the front row. Senator Alcance was seated beside her. Both declined to comment on any specific legislative implications of their daughters' work, though Senator Calma said, "We are enormously proud of both girls. And I suspect the Hill will be hearing from Sofia and Valentina long before we retire."

Senator Alcance, asked the same question, said, "I wanted to add an international comparison group. They told me no. They were right."

What the Project Actually Measured.

The students' daily kindness interventions included leaving unsigned positive notes on desks, restocking the class pencil jar without being asked, holding the door for the next student in line every morning without exception, and — in the final week — anonymously bringing a small wildflower from the school garden to any classmate who appeared to be having a difficult day. The selection of the wildflower recipient was made each morning by the students' homeroom teacher, who had agreed in advance not to name the recipient to the research team.

Attendance in the experimental classroom rose 4.1 percent over the six-week study period. The control classroom's attendance was flat. Mrs. Oberhoff, who supervised the research, said the effect was "modest, statistically real, and, in my opinion, probably understated."

The Hill Takes Notice.

Within four hours of the assembly's conclusion, three separate bills referencing the Magnolia study had been drafted — one from each coalition, and a third co-sponsored by Senators Tomeru and Hirogaru proposing what they described only as "further observation of the methodology." None of the three bills have been formally introduced. The coalitions are reportedly still deciding, in their respective ways, whether introducing them would be dignified or premature.

Senator Proper, asked for a statement, treated the chamber to a celebratory vegan lunch and declined to say more.

A Note from the Assembly.

Observers noted that during the assembly, Senator Calma and Senator Alcance sat next to one another in the parents' section, applauded at identical moments, and at one point were seen quietly conferring about what appeared to be a dinner plan for the following evening. The senators' families have confirmed the dinner is scheduled, the menu is not, and the science fair ribbon will be on display.

The girls themselves, asked what they planned to work on for next year's science fair, said they were considering a study on recess.