Day 7 - Public Viewing and Project Teardown

For some of our team members, today was a particularly early start as they woke up at 6am to say goodbye to their new friends from the Australian Team.  There were tears to be had all around.  The regular part of today started with the final public viewing session in the morning.  After that it was off to lunch (one last time at the cafeteria - our last chance for free ice cream with every meal!), and then it was project takedown.

Taking the projects off of the display boards went relatively quickly and easily, and in no time our team had gathered at the front, signing the title boards of each others' projects and slowly making our way, one last time, out of the project hall.

Once our materials were back in the room, we went for a walk again to downtown.  A quick 15 minute stroll from the university campus, on a nice trail through the city and along the St John's river waterfront, on a beautiful day.

The team ran across a store called the "Geek Shop" with all sorts of novelty, science-fiction and science items... many items were bought, from Star Trek shirts to electric shock pens to stuffed microbiology.

The welcome in Fredericton for science fair students was great - discounts and specials at the restaurants, and throughout the city examples of being welcomed to Fredericton and New Brunswick.

A bit more wandering around and we found the restaurant we were looking for to have dinner in, although it turned out to be a bar instead and would not accommodate our team.  Dana then led us, in a somewhat circular way, to another restaurant that was able to provide 5 tables to sit us all.

The food was good, although a bit slow, though we didn't really anywhere else to be.

After dinner it was a walk back to the campus, and a casual evening of chatting and playing games with our team and others that were still around.  Some teams had already begun leaving in the early afternoon.

Things were soon quiet as a lot of tired folks finally ran out energy, one more sleep before we catch our flight back home.

It has been an absolutely incredible week with a great team of young men and women. We are proud of the entire group, and they have shown so much enthusiasm, hard work, and most importantly respect for others.  They are great ambassadors for our region, their schools, and their communities.  I have been so lucky and privileged to have been able to spend a week with these amazing young people.  

-- George.

Chaperone Team: George Ingrid, Dana and Dan

CWSF Day 6 - Awards Ceremony

Today was another busy day!  It started with a morning full of public viewing - school tours and general public viewing of the project hall.

Mixed in to that for the finalists was some time to explore the exhibit hall and see other projects, as well as the opportunity to hear some lectures that were taking place.

Tour of the Human Performance Lab

At noon public viewing was finished for the day, and it was time for lunch and to get ready for the Awards Ceremony!

We once again walked over to downtown Fredericton - with great weather! - and we arrived before any of the scheduled buses, giving us prime choice of the "front row centre" seating.

In no time at all it was time for the Awards ... Special Awards (with specific criteria donated by sponsors), Challenge Awards (for specific challenge areas of interest), and the Excellence Awards (medals).

Team BASEF once again had great results as a team:

Special Awards
Samna Aziz - Canadian Association of Clinical Chemists Special Award
Samna Aziz - Manning Innovation Prize

Challenge Award - Innovation:
Caroline Mahut

Bronze Medals:
Anika Gupta, Jack Mogus, Maggie Williams, Samna Aziz

Silver Medals:
Claire Hunter, Michael Wolfe, Katie Brent, Aaron Gomes

Gold Medal:
Caroline Mahut

An amazing result as a team, and the support of all team members for each other was evident again today as different finalists finished with different results - yet each project was exceptional and on a different day could just as easily have won an award if it didn't today.

To see more pictures from the Awards show, check out the Facebook page:
  https://www.facebook.com/TeamBASEF 

After the Awards show we took team and individual pictures in front of the New Brunswick Legislature building, and then walked back to the campus.

Upon return it was time to relax - some volleyball, some frisbee, some board games, and some dancing at the celebration dance event.

Celebration Dance Event

And with some students leaving tomorrow, including the Australian team that is leaving early in the morning, there were some tears as new friends will once again be separated by distance.

It was toward midnight before everyone really got settled down and off to bed ... one more full day to go, with public viewing and project takedown coming up on Saturday.

Congratulations to all of Team BASEF for the hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication to bring these great projects to the national fair.  The entire team has made our region and their communities proud.

Day 5 - Science Activities and Public Viewing

For this morning the team went different ways again as we each were assigned to a variety of science-based activities throughout the University of New Brunswick campus.  The activities and demonstrations included biology, chemistry, robotics, electronics, astronomy, and more.  Each student participated in two different activities.

After lunch, it was time for the first Public Viewing Day.  This year, the public viewing has a slightly new format ... students are assigned to a schedule that divides their time between presenting their project to the public, free time to see the projects of other students, and also time to attend some talks and lectures scheduled throughout the afternoon.

Today was also one of the School Tours days, so the project hall as filled with area students looking at the projects and speaking to the participants.

There was still public viewing after dinner, until 8pm, though it became much less busy by that time.

Even the delegate/chaperones (Dan, George, Ingrid and Dana) has some things planned, starting with a Youth Science Canada meeting, and wrapping the afternoon with a "Future Host Social" presented by Montreal to talk about next year's fair.  Montreal based food, music, and even dancing was a feature.

 

 The weather was great today, sunny all day, perfect for spending some time outside!

The Team at the end of Public Viewing

Some free time outside!

Shortly after the public viewing it was the "Camp CWSF" event which included camp-themed food and the CWSF finalist Talent Show.  Katie took part in a performance with the Australian team, and all of the performances were great - music and singing, story telling, even a short comedy skit.

After the Camp CWSF wrapped up at 10pm, all finalists were treated to a fireworks display outside of the main building.  A great wrap to the day!

Don't forget that you can see more pictures on the BASEF Facebook page at:
 https://www.facebook.com/TeamBASEF 

Tomorrow is Public Viewing in the morning, and the the Award Show in the afternoon - another busy day!

Day 4 - Tour Day

This morning we got up to grab a quick breakfast and then off to the buses to begin Tour Day.

The Team were on one of four tours - Hopewell Rocks and Cape Enrage on the Bay of Fundy, St Andrews by the Sea, Geocaching and science activities around Fredericton, and the Bay of Fundy coast including sea caves.

There was lots to see and do, and the weather we experienced was as diverse as the tour destinations - a little rain, a bit cold (especially on the coast!), then sunny and warmer.

Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy

Walking on the ocean floor!

  

At the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy

It was a bit hard to keep track of what everyone was doing today, there were lots of interesting activities that both explored natural features and also gave the students the chance to participate in some activities and demonstrations.

  

Science Fairs can be tiring!  The bus trips and tours were interesting with interpreters and guides, but also could be a bit long!

 

The entire team enjoyed their tours and activities, and there wasn't much time to rest afterwards, as within half an hour of arriving back at the campus we were off to our "Night on the Town" dinner out, at a restaurant (Issac's Place) in downtown Fredericton.

The plan was to walk there, and it was a great walk in the sunny early evening.  The restaurant was great with a wide variety of dinners to choose from.

Night on the town Dinner!

A toast to the team from Dan

 The team has been amazing and today was a well earned stress-free day after the great job everyone did yesterday with Judging.

Tomorrow we have some University of New Brunswick science activities in the morning, and then a combination of events in the afternoon - public viewing and science lectures.  The team will be at the project hall and lecture events until 8pm tomorrow, so it will be another busy day!

Day 3 - Judging Day!

Today it was down for breakfast by 7:30am, and off to the start of Judging Day for 8:30am.  The weather wasn't the greatest today, but it managed not to rain on us during the quick walk to the Project Hall.

No entrance during Judging Day to the project hall except for finalists and judges ... notice the guard posted at the door...

Soon enough the morning judging - the "Excellence Award" judging (for medals) was over, and it was back to the cafeteria for lunch.  A much more relaxed team by lunch time!  Everyone looked great dressed up in their judging day outfits.

The team reported good judging experiences, with lots of questions getting asked and a lot of judges interested in their work.  With the combination of great topics, lots of hard work, and plenty of enthusiasm, the entire team did a great job in putting their best efforts forward today.

The afternoon was filled with Special Award judges, so some students had more judging interviews than others (depending upon category and grade level).  For some of the team there were another half dozen or more judges in the afternoon!  But by 5:30 Judging Day was finally over...

Selfie time!

After Judging it was a quick change of clothes and the walk to a short bus ride to the "Freddy Festival", a number of events and activities organized for the students in downtown Fredericton.  The weather was a little bit threatening, but it held off for most of the night.  A short downpour caught a couple of the team in the open, but it was over in a few minutes and events continued.

Events included the Gladiator, the Human Sphere Races, Obstacle course, Bungie Run, as well as food vendors and other activities to participate in.

Jack and Lucas in the Gladiator Battle  

Human Sphere Races

Food!

The Team BASEF Chaperones fulfilled a commitment to all get lobster tattoos at some point during this trip

Also note the thrill of victory and agony of defeat as chaperone George defeats finalist Jack in a round of Gladiator.

Victory!

The Bungie run provided some amusing moments as well.

Determination!

Around 10pm the exhausted team took the bus back to the residence, and we go to bet with our alarms set to get up for the tour day tomorrow.  Hoping that the weather holds out, there are many exciting things to see tomorrow!

Congratulations to the entire team for working so hard to not only get to the Canada-Wide fair, but to represent our region and their schools so well today.  We're all very proud of everyone on this team.