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Young minds get into science

The innovators and discoverers of tomorrow took centre stage in Chesterfield Inlet when Victor Sammurtok School (VSS) hosted its Elementary Science Fair on Dec. 4.

Kayalaaq Leishman-Brocklebank took top spot overall with her project, Helping Hands, on helping the disabled at the Victor Sammurtok School Elementary Science Fair in Chesterfield Inlet on Dec. 4, 2018. Photo courtesy Rob Humby
Kayalaaq Leishman-Brocklebank took top spot overall with her project, Helping Hands, on helping the disabled at the Victor Sammurtok School Elementary Science Fair in Chesterfield Inlet on Dec. 4, 2018. Photo courtesy Rob Humby

Local fairs in schools across the region led up to the Kivalliq Science Educators’ Community’s (KSEC) Kivalliq Regional Science Fair, where students were vying for the right to represent the Kivalliq at the national Canada-Wide Science Fair.

The 2019 regional science fair will be held at Qitiqliq Middle School in Arviat from March 15 to 17.

KSEC president Rob Humby of Chesterfield Inlet is enjoying overseeing his fourth science fair at VSS this year.

Humby said the coolest thing about the annual science fair is that there’s always different projects to see and there’s always a really nice variety of work entered from the students in kindergarten all the way up to Grade 8.

He said year in and year out, there’s always something new and fresh about the event, and that says a lot about the school and its students.

“Our students have some great ideas and it’s amazing to see them be able to organize those ideas into a project in the science fair,” said Humby.

“Our school, as a whole, takes the annual science fair very seriously and we’re quite proud of our results over the years.

“The students, and even our staff, realize that the school science fair is an opportunity – where students feel motivated and want to learn about the questions that often pop up in their mind on a daily basis,” he said. “The positive feedback and successful students over the years at the VSS Science Fair and the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair keeps our students motivated to do even better and come up with a better project next year.”

Humby said there were 23 projects entered into this year’s elementary science fair, which made it really interesting.

He said there are usually three types of science fair projects – the experiments, the research projects and innovation, which is inventing something new.

“We had a wide range of projects from our younger students this year in all three types of projects, including a couple of innovations, which is really nice to see,” Humby said. “Really that’s what stands out from the rest for me, when there’s innovation involved.”

Humby said the senior high science fair will be held sometime in February while the group prepares for the regional fair.

“The science fair is a big deal to our school and our students and I’m grateful to have the amount of support we do from the students, the staff and the community members, because without any of them this just wouldn’t be possible.”