Recent History – 2001
April 25, 2001
Yose Cormier, Daily News Staff
Four Central Middle School students are heading for the national science fair in May.
Bailey Chabot, Brigitte Schilds, Joshua Schilds and Sheldon Clark were winners at the regional science fair held in Fort St. John on April 10, giving them the opportunity to go to Kingston, Ontario, for the national competition.
“We are really excited at going. It will be great fun,” said Bailey.
The four students will be heading for Kingston on May 12 and will spend a week there, traveling once to Ottawa for a visit.
“There are lots of things planned for us. It will be awesome,” said Brigitte.
Bailey and Brigitte teamed up and won the Women in Science and Technology Award for their project, Uninvited Dinner guest.
“Our project looked at how bacteria developed on meat. How long it took to grow and what temperatures created growth,” Brigitte explained.
They will be competing in the junior category as they are both Grade 8 students.
Joshua and Sheldon’s project was titled “Hands on the Science of Swimming”.
“Our project studied the movement of the hand as a person did laps around a pool. We wanted to see if the hand moved, and how it moved,” said Sheldon, whose partner is currently in China flying kites with his dad. He will be back for the national competition.
This duo will be in the intermediate category since Joshua is a Grade 9 student compared to Sheldon who is a Grade 8 student.
Richard Powell, principal at Central Middle School, is proud of the achievement of his students.
“This continues a tradition at Central of students going to the nationals. Both projects were pretty impressive, worthy of representing our area in Kingston,” he said.
There are six students from the northern B.C. region going to the nationals and four of them are from Dawson Creek.
“It is quite an accomplishment, especially since this was done on their own initiatives. Their science projects weren’t part of their program,” Powell noted.
The students know the competition will be stiff, and are going there for the experience, not necessarily to win.
“These are the best projects in Canada. It will be very tough. One pair of Grade 11 girls got a research grant for their projects,” said Brigitte, who quickly added that they aren’t in the same category.
Bailey spoke along the same lines.
“We are going there for the experience, and have some fun. We hope to find some new ideas for next year’s science fair,” she said.
The scientists will be going there with their eyes wide open, taking everything in.
“It will probably be a bit intimidating, but it will be a great experience,” said Sheldon.
The two other students from northern B.C. going to Kingston are Sohale Ziaei, a Grade 7 student from Ecole Fort St. John Central and Ryan Fell, a Grade 7 student from Upper Pine Elementary Jr. Secondary.