P.E.I. students take home four medals at national science fair

With projects looking at antibiotic resistance, microgreen germination, herbicides and the psychology of colour, it was a best-ever performance for P.E.I. at the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Five P.E.I. students presented science projects at the national competition in Fredericton, and all five are bringing medals home.

"We knew we had a strong team leaving, but this is definitely, definitely much more than we ever expected for sure," said Lise Deveau, an East Wiltshire teacher and member of the P.E.I. Science Fair Committee, who attended the competition with the students.

The projects earned two silver and two bronze medals. 

Psychology of colour

Christianne Riveroll, a Grade 9 student at Grace Christian School, took home a bronze medal for her project on the "psychology" of colour.

"I wanted to see if I could measure the mood that participants felt while looking at a colour, objectively, so a way that your body was telling you kind of how you felt," Riveroll said.

She did that by measuring participants' moods, based on sweat gland activity. 

"I learned that hard work really pays off, because I know that we all put a lot of hard work in, and we were all rewarded for this."

Pretreating micro-greens

Davis Nicholson and Joe Moak, Gulf Shore Consolidated Grade 8 students, won silver for their project, which looked at pretreating microgreen seeds to get a higher germination rate. 

"We planted microgreen seeds, and then we pretreated them by soaking them and freezing them. And then we saw which had the best germination rate compared to doing nothing to your seeds," Nicholson said.

Moak said he was pleased with the results of their project, and very happy to win a medal. He also said he learned a lot from the experience of attending the science fair.

"I was amazed by the hard work that everyone put into their projects. It was so many good projects, so much effort, and I was honestly just blown away," Moak said. 

Antibiotic resistance

Abby Chapman, a Grade 10 Charlottetown Rural student, won bronze for a project focusing on antibiotic resistance. 

"In recent years it's become really hard to maintain effective antibiotics against increasingly more virulent bacteria. And so we're in need of new approaches to develop these new antibiotics," Chapman said.

Through her project she was able to discover new compounds, and she says presenting her project, and seeing the work of other students. was "an incredible experience."

She hopes to continue doing science fair projects and eventually wants to pursue a career in science.

Cinnamon as a herbicide

Jannah McCallum, a Grade 7 student at Queen Charlotte, explored cinnamon as a possible herbicide. 

"I did my tests on carrots," McCallum said. "Carrots are related to three weeds, two of which are dangerous. And if it will work on carrots, hypothetically it will work on these dangerous plants. Because right now they are using herbicides that are chemicals, and its damaging the forest and brush around the plant, and not just the plant."

When she learned she'd won a silver medal, McCallum said she was so excited she ran to the stage.

She said she enjoyed the whole experience of the trip, and learned some lessons, too. 

"Don't be afraid to do your best, and don't be afraid to speak up for what you think is important, because you can do things like this."

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