Chinook Regional Science Fair winners going to national event
Three students from southwest Saskatchewan will be among the young scientists showcasing their projects at the Canada-wide Science Fair in Ottawa.
Winners of regional science fairs from across Canada will gather in the nation’s capital from May 25 to June 1 to participate in the largest annual youth science, technology, engineering and mathematics event in the country.
The two overall best-in-fair projects from southwest Saskatchewan were selected during the 2024 Saskatchewan Chinook Regional Science Fair at Swift Current Comprehensive High School (SCCHS), March 6.
Mapalo Mushoriwa, a Grade 12 SCCHS student, was the overall first place winner at the regional science fair with her project about the effects of climate conditions on cadmium uptake in wheat.
Senior students Tessa Todd and Braden Baumann from Hazlet School finished second overall for their project Learning about Learning, which explores the science of learning.
Dawn Caswell from the Chinook Regional Science Fair committee said the 76 participating students submitted 46 projects. The event rules allowed students to submit individual projects or to work together in two-member teams.
“We had lots of really interesting projects,” she noted. “So I think our top two are very good choices.”
She added that a number of projects were of such a standard that they could have been among the top 10 during the judging.
“Normally the top 10 is pretty clear and I would not say that was true this year,” she mentioned. “There were a number that were sort of on the cusp of being part of the top 10. So by that standard, that’s a pretty good showing.”
She felt the projects at this year’s regional science fair were close to the same level as the expectation that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Science fairs were done virtually during the pandemic, which did not provide the same opportunity for learning and interaction as the in-person events.
“Our science fairs were done virtually and that’s a really tough thing to do,” she said. “It’s hard for a student to really be able to sell their project to somebody when they don’t even get an opportunity necessarily to be actively interviewed by them.”
The pandemic therefore left a lingering impact after science fairs returned to an in-person format, but she is seeing a turnaround and she is expecting next year’s regional science fair to be bigger.
The regional science fair in Swift Current usually takes place over a twoday period, but this year’s event was condensed into a single day due to the uncertainty caused by withdrawal of service by teachers as part of their job action in support of a new provincial collective bargaining agreement.
Additional activities such as a science Olympics therefore did not take place during this year’s regional science fair. Students still benefitted from the entire process of preparing their projects from early concept to full detailed presentation at the fair. Caswell referred to the various aspects of skills development that will take place during these projects.
“You have to access the ability to collect data and to analyze it,” she said. “You have to access the ability to display your data in a way, verbally and visually, that other people can understand. You have to have interview skills, because you are selling essentially your expertise on this project when you’re being interviewed as well.”
These projects are also an opportunity for students to develop and use their artistic and creative talents.
“There’s a huge component of that when you’re looking at things like your display board or your project documentation or anything like that as well,” she said. “There’s a number of curricular areas that these hits, like everything from social to math to science to art. It’s one of those things that is cross-curricular, because the skills that you need to create and to display this project cover so many different areas of our curriculum in multiple subjects.”
The students who created the top two entries at this year’s regional fair will have a unique opportunity to be part of an intense learning experience at the Canada-wide Science Fair.
“It’s just a whole experience of being there and getting to connect with other young people that are interested in science,” Caswell said. “These are the top 500 young science minds in the whole country. So it’s really remarkable, the exposure that you get to universities, to other businesses and corporations that are interested in your ideas and the things that you’re coming up with.”
Mushoriwa will actually be going to the Canada-wide Science Fair for a second time, because she attended the event last year in Edmonton. She was the overall winner at the 2023 Chinook Regional Science Fair.
Todd and Baumann are also repeat winners at the regional science fair. They were overall second place winners in 2022 and qualified to participate in that year’s Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair.
This will therefore be an opportunity for them to experience the national event in person when they travel to Ottawa.
According to Caswell it is not unusual for students to be repeat winners at the regional science fair and there have been several during her 15 years of involvement with the event.
“I think that once you have a student that sees what can be done in a science fair, it changes their perspective on it and their level of showmanship and performance goes way up,” she said. “Mapalo did a fantastic project last year and this year is better. Part of that is from what she saw and took home with her from the Canada-wide Science Fair last year.”
Below are the results for the winning projects per category at the 2024 Saskatchewan Chinook Regional Science Fair (student name(s), project title, school).
Best in Fair :
1st Mapalo Mushoriwa – The Effect of Climate Conditions on Cadmium Uptake in Wheat (SCCHS); 2nd Tessa Todd & Braden Baumann – Learning about Learning (Hazlet); 3rd Sennarey Garven – Light Camera, Analyze (Hazlet); 4th Cali Hilgers & Denaya Empey – Aqua Oasis (Fairview).
Special Awards:
Sanofi Biogenius award: Amani Sletten & Aimee Brown – Pumping up an
Insulin Storm (Hazlet); Water Conservation Authority award: Cali Hilgers & Denaya Empey – Aqua Oasis (Fairview); Agriculture award: Mapalo Mushoriwa – The Effect of Climate Conditions on Cadmium Uptake in Wheat (SCCHS). Senior Category:
Gold: Mapalo Mushoriwa – The Effect of Climate Conditions on Cadmium Uptake in Wheat (SCCHS); Silver: Tessa Todd & Braden Baumann – Learning about Learning (Hazlet); Bronze: Sennarey Garven – Light Camera, Analyze (Hazlet).
Intermediate Category:
Gold: Amani Sletten & Aimee Brown – Pumping up an Insulin Storm (Hazlet); Silver: Airiana Berg – Antibiotics in a Nutshell (Hazlet); Bronze: Claire Mcintosh – Normal or Suffering (Hazlet). Junior Category:
Gold: Dezarae Cooledge – Painted Plants (Central); Silver: Cali Hilgers & Denaya Empey – Aqua Oasis (Fairview); Annabelle Schulz & Lauren Ross – Space Junk (Fairview); Bronze: Adalyn Martens & Elise Chalmers – Do people with different coloured eyes have better peripheral vision? (Central); Lachlan Rempel & Lukas Tyberg – A Breath of Fresh Air (Success/stewart Valley); Mackenzie Hurl & Samantha Guenther – Fingerprint Analysis (Central); Sophie Nicholson & Cyerra Walters – Speedy Serves (Central).