Barwick student off to National Science Fair

Ken Johnston

Perhaps one day a young person from the area schools will take their science fair project and make a real difference in the lives of all Canadians. Mitchell Haw of Sturgeon Creek School in Barwick has done a project that could make a difference for trees along roadways and that has earned him a berth into the National Science Fair Competition in Saginaw, Que. May 13-21st.
Haw, 13 and in grade 7, is one of only two students from the west Rainy River District to advance to the nationals after competing in the regionals two weekends ago in Dryden. His project, entitled “An Icy Life,” took 1st prize in Life Sciences at the intermediate level. He also won a special conservation award.
He looked at different ways roads are deiced and how they affect trees. “I used magnesium, calcium, salt, sand and a control group of water.” He applied the solutions directly to trees and monitored the results. “I found that sand was the safest for trees and that calcium was the most harmful.” All his substances came from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. He received a plaque and medal for winning at the regionals and is looking forward to the trip to Saginaw. The other winner in the district was from Fort Frances.
Jessica Haw, 10 and in grade 5 at St. Crk, received 2nd place in Jr. Physical Science. She tested the strength of different mortars.
At Riverview School in Rainy River Damon Short, 11 and in grade 6, won a medal for coming in 2nd in Jr. Life Science. He also won the Best Agriculture Science Award. His project was on how increasing protein in chicken feed affects their eggs. He gave some chickens peanuts for extra protein and then measured the effects on the eggs by taking the circumference and the length. He found there was little difference between those eggs and those from chickens who had not been given extra protein.
Nolan Short, 9 and in grade 4 at Riverview, won the Best Food Science Award at the Regionals for his project on how radiation would affect the growth of radishes. “I zapped some seeds in the microwave and heated some in the oven and planted some that were untreated.” He found that the irradiated seeds grew the fastest.
Tyler McNally, 12 and in grade 7 at Riverview, received the award for Best Visual Display at the intermediate level. He had a powered wind tunnel in which he tested the aerodynamics of paper airplanes.
At McCrosson-Tovell School, Courtney Hansen, 11 and in gr. 6, was top in her age group. She won 1st Place for Jr. Physical Science, Top Communications and Top Junior Project. Unfortunately only intermediate or higher qualify for the nationals. Her project was called “Picture This” and tested the picture quality of digital cameras. Using the Macbeth Color Checker and a WG 18 Resolution tester she found that the Canon A410 had the highest readings on the test target, even though it was .8 megapixels less in quality than the model A85.
Micaela Jack, 11 and in gr. 6 at

McCrosson, received Honourable Mention for top project in Human Health Sciences. Her project studied how people can sleep better using an air purifier. Using four different homes she determined that a better air env. does help people to sleep better.
David McBride, 13 and in gr. 8 at Sturgeon Creek Alternative School (Stratton), received Honourable Mention for Physical Sciences in the Intermediate level. He tested the different permeability of toques (i.e. which one breaths sweat best). He discovered factory spun cotton won out over five other types.
Several other students travelled to Dryden for the Regionals but did not win awards there. They are:
Riverview School: Jessie Bourre, 12 and grade 7, “How Coloured Text Affects Your Memory.”
Sturgeon Creek (Barwick): Kaylee Heyens, 11, and in grade 6, “Alcohol and How it Affects Your Body.”
Kelsea Hunsperger, 11, gr. 6, “If Gender Affects Memory.”
Amber Gibson, 14, gr. 8, “Where Bacteria Grows the Most.”
Sturgeon Creek (Stratton): Natasha Peters, 10 and gr. 5 and Heather Ottertail, 10, gr. 4, “How to get Chocolate Stains Out of Clothes.”
Ian Friesen, 10, gr. 5, “If Vegetable Oil Soaked Wood Pellets burn better than Diesel Soaked Pellets.”
Dirk Friesen, 13, gr. 7, “What Kind of Photo Paper Works Best?”
McCrosson: Lewis Linklater, 12, gr. 7, “Water Propulsion.”