UPDATED WITH WINNERS: Local science prodigies seek return to national competition

Update:

Jacob Galema of Widdifield Secondary School for their project “An Antacid for the Soil?” which won the Rotary Club of North Bay Award of Excellence, the Kumon Math and Reading Center Award, the Dr. Jean Marc Filion Environment Award, and a gold medal in the Intermediate Earth and Environmental Sciences category;

Caleb Charette and Riley Geisler of West Ferris Secondary School for their project “The Study of Genetic Disease Treatment Using CRISPR Proteins” which won the Shulman Travel Award, the Lalonde Family Award in Biology and Medicine, and a gold medal in the Intermediate Biotechnology category;

Chloe Carriere and Caitlin Howard of St. Joseph-Scollard Hall for their project “Effect of Stinging Nettle on the Alzheimer’s Profile in Drosophila Melanogaster” which won the TransCanada Award, the University of Ottawa scholarship, the Rotary Club of North Bay Senior Community Impact Award, and a gold medal in the Senior Life Science category.

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Original story:

Riley Geisler and Caleb Charette say their trip to the Canada-Wide Science Fair last May in Montreal, a trip earned on the merits of their work pertaining to a Synthetic 3D Printed Heart, has prepared them for this year's run at national glory. 

The duo said that rubbing elbows and sharing ideas with like-minded competitors, as well as the experience of being judged on their work at the highest level, has made their 2017 entry to the North Bay Regional Science Fair even more ambitious.

Ambition is something that the two tenth-grade West Ferris students have in spades, said teacher Brent Yacoback at Wednesday's science fair, held at Nipissing University. As Yacoback said, there is no shame in admitting that his two students have surpassed him in this field of biotechnology. 

"Out of all the students I've taught in the last 12 years, they've shown the most initiative getting involved with the science fair, they've contacted people across Canada to find information on how to complete their work. 

"They made contacts with professors at McGill and other universities down south, contacts with people in business and industry. That in itself, I was impressed with. They are both highly intelligent and motivated students, but for them to go out and pursue these leads on their own, that shows something above and beyond. It would be awesome if more students were like that."

This year's project is entitled "The Study of Genetic Disease Treatment Using CRISPR Proteins." This is serious stuff, far beyond what a scientific layman can explain. Suffice it to say that it is highly impressive that two 16-year-old young men organized and raised funds so that they could spend one week at McGill University in Montreal, performing their studies at one of the few labs equipped to do so in Canada. It was a friend that the duo met at the Canada-Wide Science Fair whose diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma spurred this year's project.

Both Geisler and Charette said they will continue to pursue schooling and careers in the medical field. "I'm really into analytics," said Geisler, "being able to look at a puzzle and diagnose it and solve it. Medicine is like a big puzzle."

Charette says that while he finds medicine fascinating, his interest in becoming a doctor also comes from "his family and friends who are impacted by auto-immune diseases. I really want to be able to help them."

Geisler and Charette are hoping their project will be one of three selected for the Canada-Wide Science Fair. Judging took place Wednesday morning and afternoon, with the awards ceremony to follow at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night in the theatre located in room F213 at Nipissing.

At the North Bay Regional Science Fair, junior, intermediate and senior students have an opportunity to present their findings to established members of the scientific community, as well as the general public, and their peers.

Projects at the regional level will be judged and categorized in five disciplines: life science; physical science; engineering, math and computer science; biotechnology; and Earth and environmental science.

Dr. Andrew Weeks, associate professor of neuroscience at Nipissing, also served as the Chief Judge of the Science Fair. Weeks said that while the quality of the projects is still apparent, the quantity has definitely diminished over time.

"Science never gets old, and science is always on the cutting-edge. Curiosity never gets old either. The kids are showing us some surprising things each year. They do come with things that are well beyond their grade level.

"It's been an ebb and flow. We put on the fair. It's up to the teachers. Some years,  you get a number of teachers who are interested and it will grow, and other years it will shrink. We are at the mercy of the system," said Weeks.