A young man’s passion for exposing scams and secrets in marketing led to creation of the Secret Detectors.
Alan McCarthy, a student at Cartmell Elementary, shared this passion with the other members of his STLP team. “After feedback from STLP regionals, the students decided to hone in on one particular secret – artificial sugars,” said STLP Coach and Second Grade Teacher Diane McCarthy.
The other members of the STLP team are Matthew Tingle, Jaxon Routon, Raistlin Wainscott, Kylee Estes and Deacon Sellers. As part of their project, they researched the effects of sweeteners on the body and any potential health issues. They will present their findings and their project at the State STLP competition on April 19 in Lexington.
In order to test their theories about artificial sugars and sweeteners, the group conducted a blind taste test. Their subjects were Cartmell Principal Brandi Wells, Third Grade Teacher Ben Courtney and Director of Technology Zach Morris-Dean. They tasted varieties of chocolate, drinks and crystallized sweeteners. Some were flavored with natural sugars and others with artificial sweeteners.
A few students also participated in the blind taste test. It was pretty clear both adults and students had favorites and a few that evoked pretty entertaining facial responses. The adults and children both got a good laugh throughout the taste testing.
“We hope to take the project a little further by bringing the information we learned to local restaurants and coffee shops to try to get them to carry natural sweeteners as alternatives to sugar, Splenda or Equal,” McCarthy said.
