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. 

Finalists Interact With Each Other and Science Workshops

This was a day of preparation and workshops. From a weather perspective, we had several electrical storms throughout the day and lots of periodic rain showers here in Windsor. It was a bit humid, sticky and warm. We started the morning with going down for breakfast at 8AM again, and we planned out what our Finalists were to do. While Susan and I were at a 3 hour delegate meeting, our team was back at the Exhibit Hall visiting other participants' projects. They were able to see some of the other exiting innovative projects out there as well as meet new friends. At our delegates' meeting but in her absence, Susan Hunter-Jivung was presented the Canadian Association of Physicists 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award. Susan Martin and I were proud to accept the prestigious award on her behalf.  Well done Susan!

We met for lunch at noon and then rushed off to our afternoon workshops. Susan took Denny, Sonia, Chirag, Kashish, Arman and Cindy to St. Claire College to attend workshops on Cardiovascular Technology and Pharmacy Technology.  I accompanied Devika and Meaghan to a workshop on Mechanical Engineering. We learned about and built hydrogen cars then raced them.  The two workshops were relatively long and our teams were starting to get exhuasted (mentally) with information overload

.

The group arrived back at their rooms by 5PM and had some much needed down time for about an hour. Dinner for us was at 6PM and shortly after that, Denny, Cindy, Devika, Meaghan, Arman, Kashish and Chirag got some coaching about their presentations from several judging members of the CWSF. They all received good actionable feedback that they can incorporate into their presentations tomorrow. Sonia who's been here for the third time was exhausted and passed on the coaching.

When the bulk of our Finalists were done with the coaching, Susan distributed the coveted pins among our team. We sat down around a small table in the commons area and it was like they had just walked into a candy store. Their eyes lit up like Christmas trees and were very excited. The kids all wish to thank Karen Morley for supplying them.

After the pin trading a few wanted to practice their presentations on each other. Susan and I encouraged that but insisted they get a good nights sleep. So for Judging Eve, it was lights out at 10PM.

With today's inclement weather, there wasn't a tremendous amount of walking.

Only 12,031 steps

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.

At YVR Getting Ready To Fly Out

Everyone arrived at YVR this morning at 8AM. We were fortunate enough to have the Westjet personnel help Susan and me sort out the boarding passes, check-baggage tags and confirmations. We successfully checked our baggage and passed through security by 9AM.

Back: Susan, Cindy, Sonia, Denny, Arman, Devika, Meaghan, Favian
Front: Kashish, Chirag

 

The team is super excited and many report that they were actually able to get a good night's sleep. The day of travel will be long, but they came prepared with their gadgets.  We are flying to Calgary, where we have a layover for an hour and a half. Then we fly to London, ON. From there we board a coach and will be shuttled to the CWSF in Windsor. Our estimated time of arrival in London is 7PM tonight. Add the 2 hour shuttle, registration, and it's looking like we won't be seeing our rooms until 10PM. 

To keep themselves occupied, Arman will be playing on his PS2, Chirag and Kash will be using their iPad, Cindy has her novel, Sonia has two movies to watch for her Eng 12 class, Denny has his iPad, and Meghan and Devika will likely socialize throughout the day to catch up since last year's CWSF in Lethbridge. 

All in all, the South Fraser Finalists are super well behaved and getting along very well. All forecasts look positive!

All Finalists Complete Registration Early

Well done to all our Finalists on completing their registrations early! They are the first group ever to have completed them on the day before the deadline!

Only 9 more sleeps until we fly out to Windsor.

Our Finalists Going to the CWSF 

These are the South Fraser Regional Science Fair Gold Medalists. They will proceed on as Finalists to the Canada Wide Science Fair from May 10-17 in Windsor, Ontario. 

Back Row: Cindy Huang, Sonia Stewart, Devika Vishwanath, Meaghan MacKenzie, Arman Turna

Middle Row: Chirag Chopra, Kashish Chopra, Denny Choi

Front Row: MLAs Peter Fassbender & Stephanie Cadieux, Exec. Dir of BC Science Fair Foundation Patti Leigh

Below are the titles of the winning projects:
Cations and Anions - Electrochemistry - Electron Transfer
Students: Arman Turna
School: Coast Meridian Elementary

Bioremediation
Students: Chirag Chopra, Kashish Chopra
School: Seaquam Secondary, Heath Elementary

Uncovering the Truth about Coal Dust in South Delta
Students: Meaghan MacKenzie
School: Southpointe Academy

Free-Space Laser Communication
Students: Devika Vishwanath
School: Seaquam Secondary

Medication Monitoring
Students: Sonia Stewart
School: Earl Marriott Secondary

Ideal Use of Photodynamic Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (PACT) for Eradicating Mould
Pathogens
Students: Denny Choi , Cindy Huang
School: Fraser Heights Secondary