Calgary Youth Science Fair names national team

The top scientific minds from the Calgary Youth Science Fair took away thousands of dollars in scholarships and recognition at the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary Saturday.
Ankita Saxena, a 12th grade student at Westmount Charter School, won Best in Fair for her project to better understand Alzheimer’s disease.

“A better way to image beta amyloid plaque and just beta amyloid protein in general and that’s the protein believed to be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Saxena.

 

“I think people looked at it and then looked at me and then they were like oh, ok, and just moved on, because it was a little bit hard to understand but I tried to explain it and I think people got it.”

Hayley Todosco, a 12th grade student at Queen Elizabeth High School, who was also awarded with top honors, presented a self-made bio-reactor that essentially turns waste into water.

“A lot of people thought it would be a lot more complicated than just sand because the sand gets the bio-films to grow in it, because it’s so porous, but yeah that’s what it was,” said Todosco.

Madeleine Yeomans, a 10th grade student at Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School, used her project to test for micro-plastics in the Bow River which she found downstream of the city’s water treatment facilities.

“They come from polyester clothing and facial care products such as defoliants that contain tiny little micro beads. People were shocked and very unaware of the effects that their household products were having on the ecology system on the Bow,” said Yeomans.
Yeomans won an award for Best Overall Project for her age group.

15 students make up the team and alternates which will represent Calgary at the national science fair in Windsor, Ontario next month.

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