Summerland students were recognized for their work at last week’s district science fair.
The fair, held Monday and Tuesday at Summerland Middle School, featured entries from around the Okanagan-Skaha School District.
Several Summerland Middle School students will advance to the regional level of science fair competition.
Summerland’s Grade 7 students are Luc Benoit, L’effet de serre; Chloe Knowles, Melt Down; Emma Russill, To Breathe or Not To Breathe; Claire Kenzie, Potato Flinger; Trista Algar and Sophie Cormillot, Quelle nutritif est le plus effectif? and Keegan Foley and Cavan Slade, Ne mangez pas cette neige!
Grade 8 students from Summerland are Rylan Hayter, Pupillary Response; Bailey Johnson, Fountain Of Youth; Ryland van der Meulen and Winter Frizzell, Agile or Fragile; Alyssa Slater, Magical Magnets; Tommy Campbell, It’s Not Rocket Science; Brett Wilson, Electrolyte Challenge and Daniel Grant, Going The Distance.
Don MacIntyre, director of curriculum instruction with the school district, said there were 120 entries in this year’s district science fair.
From here, 33 entries will advance to the regional science fair. The regional science fair will be held at the Pacific Agricultural Research Centre in Summerland on April 11 and 12.
The regional science fair includes entries from Kelowna to the U.S. border. The top entries from the regional level will advance to the Canada Wide Science Fair, in Lethbridge, Alberta during the week of May 13.
Last year, two entries from Kelowna and four from the Okanagan Skaha School District went on to the national level.
MacIntyre said the students will continue to enhance and improve their entries as they prepare for the higher levels of competition.
“It’s ongoing,” he said. “It’s not a static project.”
Typically, the additional work is in data collection as students work to have more comprehensive information to present.
The feedback they receive from the judges at each level helps them do better in the future.
In addition, Raja Gupta and Shona Becker, science teachers at Summerland Secondary School and Summerland Middle School respectively, will work with the students as they prepare for the next levels of the science fair.
MacIntyre added that Gupta and Becker do their science fair work as volunteers, not as part of their teaching duties.