Finalists from the Rideau St. Lawrence Science Fair, Annika Culhane, Jack Sloan, Monis Sayyid and Sophie Healey attended the CWSF Ottawa 2018 at Carleton University from Saturday May 12 to Friday May 18, competing with approximately 450 other young finalists from Grades 7 to 12 for Excellence and other awards totalling $1 million dollars. The all-expense paid trip included participating in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities, participation in workshops at both Carleton and Ottawa Universities and a new look at many of the Museums in Ottawa including the Museum of Science and Technology, The Museum of Nature and the Museum of History as well as visiting downtown Ottawa and the ByWard market as tourists.
Jack Sloan and Monis Sayyid of Brockville Collegiate Institute each took home the Junior Resources Challenge Award, a Junior Bronze Medal for Excellence and a $1000 Scholarship to Western University for their project: Germination Determination. Jack and Monis found the optimum germination temperature for common garden crops. Sophie Healy of North Grenville District High School – Intermediate took home a Junior Bronze Medal for Excellence and a $1000 Scholarship to Western University for her project: Do You Move Time? Sophie explored differences in time perception based on age and gender.
It was a week filled with new experiences that were “fascinating, fun and inspiring “. Our finalists felt they learned more than they might have at school during the week away, replacing it with an “educational experience packed with fun”. “I learned more in a week than I have done in a month of school.” It even affected attitudes towards science. “I wasn’t very interested in science before, but now I am.” To top it all, the team felt they had made new “friends forever”. The Rideau St. Lawrence Science Fair Committee encourages all youth in Lanark, Leeds and Grenville to think about beginning research on a topic that interests them for our local Rideau St. Lawrence Science Fair to be held next spring. They, too, could win an all-expense paid trip to CWSF Fredericton 2019.
