Skip to content

Saanich teen scientists win big at Canada Wide Science Fair

Mount Douglas teen wins silver at Canada Wide Science Fair
web1_copy_Fedrigo

A trio of Saanich teens were among seven local students to win medals at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Regina last week.

Nattan Telmer of Mount Douglas secondary won silver for his entry, an animal tracker fitted with a thermal electric generator. Telmer also won the S.M. Blair Family Foundation Award and the Youth Can Innovate Award.

Nicolas Fedrigo of Claremont and Yassin Guitouni of Mount Douglas won bronze for their innovative entries, Fedrigo’s creation of a stroke rehabilitation exoskeleton and Guitouni’s “Kneed for Power,” a knee brace which harnesses biomechanical energy.

The Canada-Wide Science Fair is the highest level of science fair competition in Canada, with nearly 500 students competing from across the country. Travel and accommodation for the local students was paid for by the Victoria Society for the Advancement of Young Scientists, which organizes the Vancouver Island Regional Science Fair.

All seven of the overall winners from the April VIRSF who went to the Canada-Wide Science Fair won a medal.

Victoria resident Annie McLeod of Glenlyon Norfolk School won gold, building on her resume as the top overall prize winner at the 2017 VIRSF. McLeod’s project uses marine brown algae extracts (fucoxanthin and phlorotannin) to create a dye-sensitized solar cell to form a cheap, alternative source of energy.

Winning bronze with Fedrigo and Guitouni were bronze Anastasia Castro (Glenlyon Norfolk) for research on microplastic ocean pollution, Melody Cheng (Glenyon Norfolk) for studying the bonds that hold water together, and Ella Chan (Glenlyon Norfolk) for research on oral infection treatment with eugenol from cloves.

Cheng also received the Canadian Association of Physicists Prize.

web1_NattanTelmer
Travis Paterson/News Staff Grade 9 student Nattan Telmer of Mount Douglas secondary is entering the Vancouver Island Regional Science Fair on Sunday and Monday at UVic. Telmer built a rechargable case out of thermo-electric generators to expand the life of sensors that marine researchers attach to Steller sea lions.