Local ‘Best of Fair’ winners to compete at Canada Wide Science Fair
Last month, local students took part in the 52nd Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Science Fair. Five students were selected as “Best of Fair” winners and will go on to represent the region at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Edmonton Alberta in May 2023.
The following list of winners was provided by the Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Science Fair (FLASF):
- Gold: Shail Patel (Calvin Park Public School) for “Dextera: An Affordable, Functional, Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand”
- Silver: Izabela Quest (Loyalist Collegiate & Vocational Institute) for “Stopping Cancer in Its Tracks; How Does Fructose Enable Cancer Cell Metastasis?”
- Bronze: Echo Middaugh (Calvin Park Public School) for ”Programming Positivity”
- Honourable Mention: Jack Washburn (Calvin Park Public School) for “Microplastics in Hair Products”
- Honourable Mention: Shreeya Darbar (Module de l’Acadie) for “Protecting Our Food from Climate Change”
- Runner Up: Jonathan Li (Kingston Secondary School) for “Depressed or Not? Using Large Language Models to Predict Depression from Social Media Posts”
According to a release from FLASF, the five local “Best of Fair” winners will be joining Team Ontario, which is made up of the top regional winners in Ontario and sponsored by Youth Science Ontario, as well as students from across Canada, all of whom will compete at the Canada Wide Science Fair.
This year’s fair saw 150 projects presented by almost 170 participants. Organizers said that the Science Fair concluded with a fantastic keynote by Alan MacDonald speaking about climate change and the greenhouse project at Loughborough Public School, followed by Town Crier Chris Whyman, who kicked off the Awards Ceremony. Sponsors and MPPs Ted Hsu and Ric Bresee participated in handing out awards and congratulating the winners.
The Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Science Fair is a non-profit community-based organization dedicated to supporting and promoting youth participation in science and technology. According to the release, the organization is entirely run by volunteers, and approximately 250 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds were involved in organizing and running the 2023 Fair — quite an accomplishment after a few years of virtual fairs.
FLASF thanks all volunteers and acknowledges the financial support from local educational institutions, school boards, professional organizations, and businesses as well as from Youth Science Ontario.
For a complete list of winners and more information about the Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Science Fair and the above projects, visit the FLASF website.