In three years, Dylan Peil has racked up numerous awards for his innovations in science and has now qualified to attend the Canada-wide Science Fair from May 18 to 20 in Montreal. This year Peil will represent the West Kootenay Boundary along with fellow winners Marisa Price and Johanna Brochhagen, both from Trafalgar Middle School.
The 2016 regional student science fair was held Saturday at L.V. Rogers Secondary School. It was open to students from across the Kootenay Boundary and featured 95 projects in experiments, innovation, and research.
Peil, in Grade 9 at L.V. Rogers, designed and prototyped an active solar tracker using a satellite dish covered with mirrors. His efforts netted him the Michael Crooks Physics Award ($75), and gold in the intermediate innovation division. He will be traveling to Montreal in May.
Price, in Grade 7 at Trafalgar, won gold in the Junior Experiment Division for “Are My Hands Really Clean?” She also won the Al Appleton Worksafe Award ($100) and will be traveling to the Canada-wide fair.
Brochhagen received a silver medal in the Junior Experiment Division for “Do Screens Affect Reading Comprehension?” and netted the BC Science Teacher’s Award ($75). She too will be traveling to Montreal for the Canada-wide event.
This year’s regional science fair was a success for many others as well, with ten other students winning individual awards and 58 students winning gold, silver or bronze in the research, experiment or innovation categories. Individual awards are sponsored by organizations and businesses that want to support research and innovation in specific fields such as engineering, physics, agriculture, heart disease or genomics. Individual award winners won a total of $1,025 with individual awards ranging from $75 to $200.
Other local schools represented at the fair included Nelson Christian Community School, Ecole des Sentiers-Alpins, Blewett Elementary, Hume Elementary, Rosemont Elementary; St. Joseph School, and Heritage Christian Online School.
GLOWS (Growing, Learning Opportunities With Science) is providing $2,300 in funding to assist the students with travel to Montreal for the 2016 Canada-wide Science Fair. Hundreds of the country’s brightest young scientific minds will attend this year’s event, competing for medals, cash awards, scholarships and other prizes worth approximately $1 million.
BELOW: Dylan Peil, Marisa Price, and Johanna Brochhagen pose after receiving the Canada-wide Science Fair Grand Award, enabling them to attend the Canada-wide Science Fair in Montreal.
