We were able to catch up with some of the students who participated in this week's Western Manitoba Science Fair, which showcased the work of over 260 students in their 250+ projects from students in Grades 1-12, all sharing their passions within the STEAM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mechanics.

Grade 7 student at Brookdale School, Liam Dennis, received multiple awards including Gold standing with his peers on Tuesday afternoon for his project, Energy Conservation 2024, including the Prairie Electric Award (awarded to the best project on solar energy and $100), as well as the Brandon Chamber of Commerce Award (given to the best project demonstrating entrepreneurial concept and $100).

"This project is about conserving energy to help global warming," explains Liam Dennis.  "I found out that putting a biotech, which is like putting a shed with a thick tarp over it, saves 133% more energy than a house without a biotech over it."

To conserve more energy, Dennis says buying an EV car or a Hybrid vehicle would be the best choice.

Grade 7 student from Ecole Harrison School, Brandon, Zoe Forbes, received the Andrews Foot Clinic Award for the project that best relates to human physical mobility and a $75 cash award for her project, Sleep and Brain Function.

"I really need lots of sleep and so I was wondering if sleep affects other people and effects how fast their brain works specifically in reaction time and executive function," explains Forbes.  "We found out that the more sleep that people have, the faster their brain can work, and the faster that their reaction time is, and their executive function is."

Zoe Forbes says one thing that surprised her was that for certain participants who had very little sleep, they were still able to perform quite well.  "So that kind of surprised me but it also could have been the intake of caffeine before or other controls that we did not control."

For peak performance, Forbes says a good sleep before an event is always necessary. "Your brain will work more to enhance the speed!"

Grade 7 student, Nicholas Wollman, from Fairway Colony near Douglas shared on his Water Filtration project, researching on which filter works best for the purest water. "Charcoal used to burn isn't quite good for a water filter," he explains. "It's used to burn, and it's not used for a filtration system.  Activated charcoal is used for water filters because it takes out most bacteria.  Sand takes out some large items in the water. Rocks take out larger material as well."

"Something I would change for next time is I would add 2 coffee filters to make stronger, and I would use less rocks," notes Wollman.

The Christie Office Plus Awards were presented to two teachers in grateful recognition of the time and effort contributed by an instructor in order to support the quest of youths in their pursuit of knowledge and excellence in STEM.  Bob Birch of Boissevain School for both the Grades 1-2 and 5-6 categories., and Heidi Figol from Waverly Park School Brandon for the same age group categories.

Please listen to the interviews with each of these students below! (I would have LOVED to have chatted with each of the students about their projects!  Just sayin'!)

Photos below:  Liam Dennis, Zoe Forbes, and Nicholas Wollman

Related article: HERE!