Local students recognized at regional science fair

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Published on Thursday, March 24, 2016

Submitted photo. (From left) Caydence Deveau and Tynille Steen of Carberry were among the many students from the area who won an award at WMSF.

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

On Tuesday, March 15, 423 young scientists from across southwestern Manitoba showed off their knowledge to parents, teachers and the community at the Western Manitoba Science Fair (WMSF). Students from Grades 1 to 12, working in groups or alone, brought their science projects to be judged at this regional science fair held at the Keystone Centre in Brandon. A total of 21 schools were represented at the competition, with 305 projects being presented. 

The students were judged by different categories, which depended on age and whether they did a group or individual project. The top 10 per cent in each category received gold medals, while the next 15 percent got silver and the 15 per cent just below that was awarded bronze. For example, if there were 50 entries in a category, the best five would win gold medals, the next seven or eight just below the top five would get a silver and the seven or eight ranked just below those would get bronze.

Eight projects from two schools in the area received recognition in their categories. In the Grade 7 and 8 group category, Callie Robinson and Erica Alex from Tanner’s Crossing School in Minnedosa were awarded silver for their project entitled “Colour Me Happy”. 

In the individuals category of the same age group, Zack Knol of Carberry Collegiate won silver for his project, “The Amazing Growth of Plants”. Two more from Carberry Collegiate, Jesse Gunn and Annika Duguay both received bronze in that category for their projects, “Wild Salon” and “Defying Gravity?”. Erik Barrett from Tanner’s Crossing also got bronze for his “Plant Growth” project. 

In the Grade 5 and 6 group category, Matthew Salyn and Luke Robson of Carberry won gold with their project “Can You Hear Me Now?”. Carberry also took home silver in that category with Andee Nikolaisen and Tamara Carriere’s project “Wood You Trust a Chemical?”.

Ashley Magnusson of Tanner’s Crossing was awarded silver in the Grade 3 and 4 individual for “Bubble-Ology”.

There were also special awards for those who entered their projects in for specific topics. The winners of these awards were given cheques for having the best project in their age group related to the topic. Two projects from Carberry were among the winners of the special awards. Tynille Steen and Caydence Deveau’s “The Fat That’s in That” project won the Manitoba Association of Home Economists Award, which was given to the best projects relating to food and nutrition. In their project, they compared the daily recommended fat intake of eight individuals to the amount of fat in each individual’s favourite fast food meal. They won in the Grade 5 and 6 category, receiving a $25 cheque each. 

Annika Duguay won the Andrews Foot Clinic Award for her project, “Defying Gravity?”, which was the Grade 7 and 8 category project that best related to human physical mobility. Her project was about the physics behind figure skating. She used the principles of centre of mass, projectile motion and conservation of momentum to draw conclusions about how to achieve higher level jumps and spins. Duguay was awarded a $75 cheque for winning. 

The Best of Fair winners, who can be between Grade 7 and 12, receive an all expenses paid entry to the Canada Wide Science Fair, hosted by McGill University in Montreal. This year, the winners were Lucas Harvey and Chace Benson of the Crocus Plains school in Brandon, who had a project called “EVAC”, which stands for Emergency Vehicle Automated Control. This project was in the Grade 11 and 12 group category.