Science students earn silver medals at national competition

Five Niagara students took a hypothesis to the Canada-wide Science Fair earlier this month and concluded with medals from the competition in Ottawa.

Crystal Coyne, a student from E.L. Crossley Secondary School, and Sarah Schaefer from St. Alexander Catholic Elementary School, both in Pelham, partnered for a bee hydration station and took home silver medals.

Power Glen Elementary School student Dheiksha Jayasankar’s project on the localization of antioxidants through carbon nanoparticles to enhance plant growth earned her a silver.

Abby Kitcher, another student at the St. Catharines school, also brought home a silver medal for her project titled I Will Remember Hue.

Hailin Wang, a student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in St. Catharines, created an affordable mechatronic solution for independent movement assistance. He finished the competition with a silver medal.

He has been accepted at Waterloo University to study mechatronics this September.

“There are so many disciplines and there are so many ways to apply it — that’s what I love about it,” he said of science last week at District School Board of Niagara headquarters in St. Catharines.

Coyne and Schaefer not only united as a secondary-elementary team, but they also had the environment in mind with their project, constructing nearly half of it with recycled gift cards. They set out to let people know how important bees are and that they need water.

“Bees aren’t out to get us — they’re just out to collect pollen and nectar — and water,” said Coyne.

Nancy Hermans, chair of the Niagara Regional Science and Engineering Fair, said she is always blown away by what students create.

“This is one of our best years. We’re very proud of them,” she said.

Hunter Murdoch, a Saint Michael Catholic High School student in Niagara Falls, also participated but did not receive a medal.

Students who compete at the national fair advance from competitions held locally in their own schools, between Niagara’s Catholic and public boards.

KRIS DUBE SPECIAL TO THE WELLAND TRIBUNE Dheiksha Jayasankar, left, Abby Kitcher, Crystal Coyne, Sarah Schaefer and Hailin Wang are students from Niagara schools who recently returned home from the Canada-wide Science Fair with medals.