Members of the Legislative Assembly welcomed provincial science fair participants to the Legislature today and congratulated the students on their accomplishments.
Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Gerard Greenan says the school, district and provincial science fairs are excellent learning opportunities that encourage students to continue learning and enjoying science. “People who visited the fairs were in awe of how well the students used the scientific process to demonstrate their science knowledge and skills. The projects were extremely creative, topical and well presented,” he said.
The students who are going on in May to represent Prince Edward Island at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Winnipeg are Emma Trivett of Charlottetown Rural High, Treatment of Sea Lice Using Emmamectin Benzoate; Agatha Kang and Gayani Gunathilake of Charlottetown Rural High, Characterization of Antibodies Responsible for Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in Dogs; Emily Ross of East Wiltshire Intermediate, Remember to Think - Thinking to Remember: Preventing Alzheimers; and Kaitlyn Trainor of Stonepark Intermediate, Do You Get Moody With the Moon?
Other senior and intermediate winners were Mathew Hardy and Mathew Bryan of WestIsle Composite High, Robot Tennis Ball Retriever; and Daniel Larsen of Immanuel Christian School, Climatic Effects on Wireless Electricity.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award was presented to Thomas Bruce of Eastern Kings Consolidated School who best demonstrated excellence and innovation in scientific thought and skill through his project, Cooling the Earth.
Minister Greenan acknowledged the great collaboration that occurs between UPEI faculty staff and the education system to make the provincial fair possible. In attendance today were Dr. Bill Whelan (chair), Dr. Barry Linkletter, Dr. Andrew Trivett, Whitney Kelly-Clark, Chris Vessey and Dr. John Burka of UPEI, as well as educators and specialists Paul Stewart, Lise Deveau, Janice Murphy, Jonathan Hayes and Eric Arsenault.
PEI Science Fair Chair Bill Whelan said changes were made this year in the way elementary student projects were recognized. “Rather that choosing three winners and some honourable mentions, we decided to honour the top ten projects in each grade so that there is more focus on accomplishment and less focus on competition,” he said.
The creators of the projects received a personalized certificate and will soon receive a $25 cheque.
The top ten projects (in no order) in Grade 4 were done by Destiny Myers and Mackenzie Thomas, John J. Sark School; Nicholas Dunn, Athena Consolidated; Connor McAulay, Athena Consolidated; Jean-Samuel Grondin and Jacob Gagné, École François-Buote; Brandon Bryenton, West Royalty Elementary; Emma Grace Hickey, West Kent Elementary; Brett Allen, Eliot River Elementary; Madeline Crawford, Eliot River Elementary; Karen Farag, École-sur-Mer; Nikola Marcoux and Nathan Combes, École François-Buote.
The top ten projects in Grade 5 were done by Andrew Stetson and Spenser Stetson, West Royalty Elementary; Cody Powers, Vernon River Consolidated; Hannah Glover, Southern Kings Consolidated; Max Gallant, Elm Street Elementary; Mia Campbell and Danika Campbell, École-sur-Mer; Melissa Lewis, West Royalty Elementary; Afreen Shabbir, West Royalty Elementary; Daniel Whalen and Brandon Quinn, Vernon River Consolidated; Caleb MacCormack, Somerset Elementary; and Sébastien Roy-Garand, École-sur-Mer.
The top ten projects in Grade 6 were done by Jessie Bowser and Brittany Harbord, Athena Consolidated; Emily Wight, Parkdale Elementary; Mark Henderson, West Royalty Elementary; William Stewart, École François-Buote; Laura Mohan, Parkdale Elementary; Lexy Paynter and Samantha MacIntyre, Miscouche Consolidated; Victoria McQuaid and Bethany Maynard, West Royalty Elementary; Iain Crowell, Spring Park Elementary; Maggie Reid and Christie Hall, West Royalty Elementary; Breanna Ching, Eastern Kings Consolidated; Michael Peters and Parker Thomson, Bloomfield Elementary; and Andrée Roy-Garand, École-sur-Mer.