A Day of Setup and Orientation

The day started out with a beautiful and sunny sky. This is the view of the cemetery across the street from our sleeping arrangements.

Everyone was up and ready by 8AM. Kash and Chirag were up at 5:30 AM and had their showers, beds made, and were changed and ready to go. They even had their towels draped over so the sun  would dry them quickly. Their room was immaculate. Others too woke up at early and were showered and put together. We have an amazing group. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was the comment we received from the Westjet flight attendant. She said our team was one of the best behaved and most polite (they all say their pleases and thank yous) she's ever seen in a group of school kids. That is the ultimate compliment. Way to go South Fraser!

Breakfast was an orderly cattle call. In the line up we had a choice of scrambled eggs, pork sausages or vegan sausages, hash browns, and French toast. Susan was really concerned we wouldn't have any coffee. I guess someone was pulling her leg yesterday evening about not serving coffee. We also had the healthy alternatives such as fresh fruit, oatmeal, yoghurt, and juice. Mmmmmmmmm!

The Finalists spent the remainder of the morning setting up their projects at the St Denis Field House (U of Windsor's gym). This was a 15 minute walk from our dorms. The new display panels are brilliant. Because these new panels are just so straightforward, it was far easier for finalists to setup their exhibitions quickly. There was no desperate calls for last minute knives, zap straps, tape, or pliers.  The entire hall seemed very orderly this year.

Setup went on until around 11:30 for our crew and then it was back to the our rooms to freshen up, change, then move onward to lunch. Following lunch, the South Fraser team went to a fifteen minute orientation meeting where they had a presentation outlining the expectations and behaviour at the CWSF. We were a bit late, so Dominic (one of the main organizers) gave us a quick summary of these expectations. Susan and I really are fortunate to have seasoned CWSF Finalists like Sonia, Meaghan, and Devika. They've been fantastic at mentoring and helping out our newbies.

After lunch there was a public viewing so they headed back to the exhibition hall to get ready for the public visitors.  They spent a few hours there an it was back to the dorms for a break, then dinner at 6PM.

After a nice dinner, we continued the evening with the Opening Ceremony back by the exhibit hall. The hour and a half event thanked CWSF sponsors and gave out a few distinguished honorary awards. We were entertained by the Paperbag Club, an acapella musical group of six talented singers.  They sang Roar by Katy Perry and few other popular hits. When the ceremonies concluded, Susan and I took a few of our finalists for ice cream and the rest went to the Finalists' Lounge for games and socializing. All in all it was a productive day and we did a tonne of walking. My pedometer says I took 28,294 steps today. I would imagine that everyone else in our group completed about the same amount. Let's see what we can accomplish tomorrow.