The future is in good hands if the achievements of area students are any indication.
A selection of brain power of students from the Pacific Northwest, which included a handful from the Bulkley Valley, went to Toronto recently for the Canada-wide Science Fair, a national competition of knowledge and science wizardry.
The four students from the area who attended the comeption were Ethan McLellan, a grade seven student from St. Joseph’s, Kiri Daust, who learns through the Bulkley Valley Education Centre, Arctica Cunningham, a grade 10 student from Smithers Secondary, and Alec Busby, a grade 11 student from Hazelton Secondary.
The science fair was in mid-May, and returning with medals were Arctica and Kiri.
Arctica took a bronze medal for her project called Exhaustless Defrost - The Simplest Solution.
Her project had her figuring out a new way to defrost car windows — without the harmful idling.
Kiri’s project, which earned him a silver, was called Multi-Criteria Decision Making ... In Dandelions.
He wanted to figure out why dandelions grew longer in long grass than in shorter, mowed grass.
“It was very exciting,” he said about being awarded a medal. “It’s just basically the icing on the cake because ... just being there is such an amazing experience.”
He’s already planning his next project. He’s going to look at the impact of music on the human brain.
It’s not unusual for him to get an early start on his project. The dandelion project took him two years of collecting data.
Busby’s project was experimenting with biofuels, figuring out which had the most energy.
McLellan’s project, Who’ll Stop the Rain, sought to figure out if different sandbag shapes would prevent more water seepage.
A spoiler to anyone who wanted to find out on their own, but the regular shape works the best.