Sudbury Catholic Students “Blinding Us With Science”

Qualifying students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board took part in this year’s annual Science Fair on March 2, 2011 in the gym of St. Francis School. Over the past few months students had been experimenting with their ideas and creativity to impress not only their teachers, but the judges and special guests who would make an appearance throughout the competition. Out of the hundreds of projects submitted, twenty were chosen to move on to the Regional Science Fair. Of the twenty, four were given special recognition as they were linked to the unique secondary programming at the Catholic Board’s four high schools. St. Benedict’s Specialist High Skills Major in the Environment allowed for Mia Pandolfo,a student from Marymount Academy, to be awarded the Environmental Sciences award with her project “Crank Remote”. Jasmine Ayotte and Emily Pasivirta were awarded the Innovational Technology award from Bishop Alexander Carter Secondary whose Specialist High Skills Major is in Technology. St. Anne’s Matthew Ingreselli won the Application of Physical Science to Everyday Lives award from Marymount Academy (with Advance Placement) for his “Dimple my ride” project. Tristan Harvey and Hanna Longe from St. John Elementary were awarded the Health and Wellness award linked to St. Charles College’s Specialist High Skills Major for their “ Dare to compare your toothbrush” project.
Todd Horn, a grade eight teacher from Pius XII Catholic Elementary School attended the event with his students and was excited to see the dedication and creativity of this year’s group of students. “ Seeing as how students will soon be transitioning into Secondary school, the science fair is an excellent opportunity for them to experiment and offers them the hands on experience,” Horn stated. “Science Fair is a really positive opportunity for students to create projects that are recognized and celebrated in the classroom, the school, board-wide and possibly even beyond.”
Marymount Academy Science teacher, Andrea Jebreen, echoed Horn’s comments regarding the calibre of projects at this year’s science fair “The collection of projects were so incredible that it made it very difficult to choose just twenty to go on to the next level,” Jebreen said. “It is evident that a lot of time and dedication went into each and every project and we are very proud of our students hard-work and creativity.”
The twenty finalist projects are set to attend the Regional Science Fair taking place on April 9-10 at Laurentian University.
A special thank you goes out to the Sudbury Catholic Science Fair Committee for their dedication and support throughout the planning. The team is comprised of SCDSB teachers Connie Ubriaco, Todd Horn, Andrea Jebreen, Donna Rose and Vice Principals Megan Murphy and Dennis Charlebois.