Prior to the pandemic, the Central Interior Science Exhibition was a staple of the school calendar for over 35 years. Every year, hundreds of kids would complete science fair projects and compete in school science fairs. They would then move on to the exhibition at UNBC.
This changed with the arrival of COVID. The prospect of having over a hundred and fifty students, along with their siblings, teachers, parents, and 70 judges all crammed together in the Bentley Centre at UNBC did not appeal to anyone in 2020.
The following two years, science fairs went virtual. Through Zoom and the auspices of the BC Science Fair Foundation, students were able to connect with judges and present their results on-line. Awards were given. Medals were earned. And students learned about presenting scientific data while employing the scientific method.
This year, School Districts #57, #91, and #28 in conjunction with UNBC will be once again hosting an in-person Central Interior Science Exhibition on Saturday, March 4. Yes, the CISE is in-person again with students being able to bring their experiments to the University for a day of fun and excitement. And science.
The event is one of many activities which have been sidelined during the past three years. However, we are hoping to revive it and once again enjoy the opportunity to engage with bright young minds as they explore everything from re-using plastic milk jugs to make pipes to studying the reactions of students to music to examining the water quality of the Neckako and Fraser Rivers.
This region has done remarkably well at both the provincial and national levels with gold medalists returning from the Canada-Wide Science Fair on many occasions. We have certainly held our own against students from much more populated regions. Many of our students have been invited to travel to Taiwan to take place in their international science fair.
And perhaps more importantly, we have seen many science fair participants grow up to attend university and become doctors, lawyers, physiotherapists, dentists … the list goes on.
If you know someone who might be interested in entering a project in the CISE, please encourage them to do so. After all, a day doing science is a day well spent!
Todd Whitcombe is a chemistry professor at UNBC.
