Judgement Day!

We woke up to the birds chirping and the sun shining this morning. Clouds have blown away and we have a beautiful blue sky perfect for their long stroll to the Exhibit Hall in their Sunday best attire. We met for breakfast a bit earlier today at 7:30AM. Susan and I wanted everyone to have time to ready themselves for this very important day. And we have to say they looked so professional.

The South Fraser Team

After breakfast, they chose to go straight to the Exhibit Hall. No more fussing around. Because chewing gum during judging is discouraged, Susan stopped in at the 7-Eleven to pick up mints for the crew.  Their judging session this morning runs from 9 until 12:30 then again from 2 until 5:30. While they were being judged, Delegates are not permitted to be in the Exhibit Hall, so Susan and I attended another Youth Science Canada meeting and a few workshops pertaining to promoting and supporting students in Science Fair.

We met for dinner around 6PM and some of the boys were satiated with tonight's menu: tandoori chicken, curried chickpeas, and basmati rice. They were looking for some familiar flavours from home. While the day may have started out with sunshine, the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets. It was accompanied by thunder and lightening. Because the team didn't want to get soaked,  they socialized at the table following dinner sharing their experiences through judging. Devika had 10 scheduled judges and another 3 that came around; Meaghan had 4 scheduled and another 4 afterwards; Cindy and Denny had 6 scheduled judges; Arman had 8 scheduled judges and 2 additional; Sonia had 10 scheduled judges and 3 extra; and Chirag and Kashish also had 10 scheduled judges. They all reported that they grew more and more confident and comfortable with every successive judging session.

En route back from the dining hall, the team stopped in at the Finalists' Lounge. The rain had now stopped, but the puddles that formed are huge. In the lounge, it was a wild night and all Finalists were letting loose. All that pent up nervous energy for judging needed to be released. What better way than to have a Karaoke night. Many individuals and groups participated. The South Fraser group went up to perform Avicii's Wake Me Up. Meaghan, Cindy, Devika, Arman, Chirag, Kashish, and Favian sung to a very forgiving audience. Once the ball got rolling, the group wanted another song. This time it was Gangam Style with Denny leading...unfortunately, we ran out of time.

 

Susan's attempt at capturing our singing

 

One of the observations that Susan and I made was how closely this team has bonded with each other in just a few short days.  They often travel together as a group. Everyone is so inclusive of one another. They've even had a few stragglers from other teams join in on occasion. This says volumes about the character of our Finalists.  We are very lucky to have such a fantastic team for South Fraser. 

This brings a very important day to a close. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that they will all win medals and prizes of any sort. It's lights out at 11PM and they get to sleep-in tomorrow. We're looking forward to a day at the Black History Museum and Point Pelee. Our departure will be 10AM.

Today's pedometer reading is 17,019 steps.