Thanks to an anonymous $25,000 donation, an endowment fund called the Canadian Rockies Science Fair Fund has been created by the Banff Canmore Community Foundation (BCCF).
Bill Fisher, board chair of the BCCF, said his organization was thrilled to steward the award and praised the excitement and support shown by local organizations, including the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre and the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Fisher. “With all the nurturing and support, we’re making this a better, smarter community.”
The endowment fund was established to support grade-school students from Lake Louise to Exshaw, and was announced at the Canadian Rockies Regional Science at Banff Community High School.
Since its inception 10 years ago, the fair has grown from 45 to 160 participants, and the quality of the projects has grown significantly.
Cleaning up at this year’s science fair was crowd-favourite John Poole’s investigation into how pollutants affect production of the lignin peroxidase enzyme in the mycelium of the oyster mushroom.
Poole said it felt “fantastic” to win his armful of awards, including the Best Overall Trophy for Excellence in Scientific Inquiry.
“I’m glad all the hours I put in paid off,” said Poole.
The Grade 10 student, who has won the best overall trophy in each of his last three science fairs, did his research at the University of Calgary alongside Dr. Robert Edwards.
Surprisingly, Poole found that the presence of pollutants decreased the mushroom’s enzyme production, rather than increasing them.
“I was astounded by that,” said Poole.
Also going on to win a number of awards was Grade 8 student Quinn Blyth for research into the growth of algae in wastewater.
Working with Christine Sharp, an environmental biologist at the University of Calgary, Blyth measured the weight and acidity of algae grown in water that had been contaminated with various concentrations of natural laundry detergents.
Each year, according to Blyth, an average family of four uses more than 45,000 litres of water to wash clothes.
Over the course of his three-month study, Blyth found that Tide’s natural detergent hindered the growth of algae compared to ECO’s, though he couldn’t account for why.
“I thought that result was very surprising, since they both use natural ingredients,” said Blyth.
Also at the science fair was Grade 7 student Robin Bozik’s impressive model monorail, which she built by herself over the course of four months using materials she got from her parents.
Bozik’s monorail is a single-rail train which runs by passing an electromagnet along a copper coil.
Because they are moved by the magnetic force of their battery, magnetic propulsion trains produce very little waste and have been recorded going as fast 600 km/h.
“I literally pushed my chair back and screamed when I got it to work, because it took forever to make,” said Bozik. “I just kept running the magnets through the coil over and over.”
