Area students took top spots in the Canada-Wide Science Fair held in Montreal at McGill University last week.
There were five students that represented the Central Interior at the national fair after competing at the Central Interior BC Regional Science Fair, which was held on March 5 at UNBC.
Myers Illes, a Grade 8 student in Burns Lake who is home schooled through EBUS Academy, took gold with his project called Grey Water, Green Plants in the junior category where the challenge was the environment. He used water from the washing machine as the primary water source to grow plants. Along with the gold medal, Illes was awarded a $4,000 scholarship sponsored by Western University and $250 from Youth Science Canada.
Daniel O'Reilly, a Grade 11 student at College Heights secondary, took silver for his project called Leeches Unleashed, in the senior category where the challenge was resources. O'Reilly was able to use a unique approach which utilizes natural resources to remove and repel leeches adhered to human skin. Along with the silver medal, O'Reilly was awarded the Dalhousie University Faculty of Science Entrance Scholarship of $2,500, the UBC Science (Vancouver) Entrance Award of $2,000, the University of Ottawa Entrance Scholarship of $2,000, and the Western University Entrance Scholarship of $2,000.
O'Reilly was also chosen to represent Canada in Taiwan at the International Science Fair with his 2015 CWSF project, which was awarded a bronze medal.
Elizabeth Schulz, a Grade 11 student at Fraser Lake elementary-secondary, took bronze for her project called It's Not Black and White: The Effect of Coloured Light on Lymnae Stagnalis, where the challenge was the environment. Lymnae stagnalis, the pond snail, is used in neurological research. The purpose of the project was to determine if coloured light could elicit a behavioural response as observed in its movement. Along with the bronze medal, Schulz got the University of Ottawa Entrance Scholarship of $1,000.
Eungyung Kim, an international student at Westside Academy in Prince George, was recognized with an award for excellence in astronomy with his project called Reconnaissance Sensory Space Glove Prototype in the junior category with the challenge being innovation. Kim developed a sensory space glove prototype because there is a lack of multi-sensory ability in current space gloves. For his efforts, he was awarded $500 from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Alayna Anderson, a Grade 9 student at Westside Academy in Prince George, was in the intermediate category and took the challenge of information with her project called Pi in the Sky, which is an inexpensive, power and space efficient cloud-based web/file server. This was configured with the use of a Raspberry Pi, which is credit-card sized computer with the same capabilities as a full size computer.
