On June 10^th Jeremy Nixon (UCP Calgary-Klein) rose in the Alberta Legislature to deliver a Members' statement on Alberta Youth Science Fairs.

The statement was originally planned for last month, but was delayed when the pandemic forced a pause in the Legislature. Mr. Nixon kept it on his radar and when the Legislature resumed​ we were pleased that he was able to offer his support for Alberta's Youth Science Fairs.

 

Here is the transcript from  Alberta Hansard page 5444-5445 June 10th, 2021:

 

Mr. Jeremy Nixon:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For 60 years spring meant that gymnasiums would be buzzing with science fair activity. The pandemic cancelled most of the fairs in 2020, but this year science fairs in Alberta were prepared, and they moved online. It was a challenge for these volunteer-run events to adapt to online platforms, to accept registrations, conduct judging, recognize the winners, but Alberta ingenuity ruled.

Alberta’s regional science fairs have wrapped up, and I would like to congratulate the students and organizers for making these virtual events possible. In Calgary there are normally a thousand students from grades 5 through 12 from hundreds of different schools participating on 700 projects. This year there were 363 projects, and they were available online for you to view.

The not-for-profit research organization Genome Alberta has been a sponsor of the fairs for 15 years and maintained financial support throughout the pandemic. They extended support to the fairs that had to be cancelled last year to ensure that they had the funds to be able to move online this year.

Developing a science fair project makes young people producers of knowledge. Students who take on a science fair project are in charge of their own learning and research, real-world problems such as what impact climate change will have on the lentil production, which was an award winner at the Lethbridge Regional Science Fair, or Gene Editing: Is it the Future? which earned the Genome Alberta Intermediate award for Mohith Krishna Shekar from Fairview school. We should mention the creatively titled Why Do We Hic-hic-hiccup? which won a best life sciences award for twin sisters Myelle and Reese Gallant, who attend Ridgeview Central school in La Crête.

Forty-two projects went on to the Canada-Wide Science Fair, which ran online from May 17 to the 21st. One project from Calgary and one from Edmonton won gold at the national event, and 17 received silver and bronze medals. I would like to offer my thanks to all the students, parents, teachers, and volunteers who make science fairs possible. "