Family and friends examine student projects at Central Interior Science Exhibition Saturday

Prince George, BC – A grade seven student at Immaculate Conception really ‘got into the thick of things’ for his science fair project…and he was rewarded for his efforts with three awards at this weekend’s 37th Annual Central Interior Science Exhibition.

Students came from four school districts throughout the region – SD57 Prince George, SD28 Quesnel, SD91 Nechako Lakes, and SD93 Conseil Scolaire Francophone – to compete in Saturday’s event at UNBC.  There were just under 120 entries in total, as students were judged in either Level I (grades 7-12) or Level II (grades 4-6) in a number of categories – from Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Science to Health Sciences.

For Brendan Girard, the competition was the perfect prelude to celebrating his 13th birthday today – his project was entered in the Level I Earth and Environmental Sciences category and he won the Divisional Award Gold medal for his category; a special award from the BC Institute of Agrologists for the Cariboo Central Interior, which included a $100 cheque; won the grand prize award for Best in Category; and has been nominated for a $200 provincial award.

Brendan’s project was titled, ‘Seed it, Weed it, Eat it’.  As part of his month-long project, the young man set out to determine which manure – cow, chicken, pig, or horse – would prove to be the best fertilizer for growing timothy grass.

Although smelly work at times, Brendan says he had a lot of fun with the project.  

Pictures on his display show him setting up an experiment to measure the methane gas produced by each manure sample – cow manure won that round!  But Brendan says chicken manure proved to be the best fertilizer for growing grass.

Chris Jackson, a Geography and Earth Sciences Senior Instructor at UNBC, organizing judging at the science exhibition.  She says the judges look forward to it as much as the kids.  "We have people returning to judge for many, many years, some of them.  It seems to be something they really look forward to do and are sorry when they have time conflicts that make it not possible."

Jackson says preparing projects for the fair immerses students in the experience of having to figure things out.  "It questions their curiousity – the ‘why?’ part of here’s what happened, but what makes it happen?"  She says the projects are sometimes very simple ideas, just driven by this desire to find out why.

"It’s really fun to hear them express what they know about what they’ve done – it’s what keeps our judges coming back."