École Riverside School students Anaya Permanand and Samara Green each won a bronze medal in the junior age group for their project examining uses for mining slag at this year’s Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) May 15−17 in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The Grade 8 duo, who earlier claimed top marks at local and regional competitions, also earned $1,000 entrance scholarships for Western University in London, Ontario.
Since this was their second visit to the CWSF, Permanand said she and Green were a lot more confident going into the competition, even if they were facing off against the top 500 young scientists in the country.
“We kind of knew what to do this year,” she said. “It was a little more familiar, the judging process and how much time we had.”
Riverside teacher Mervat Yehia said the girls have come a long way since she started mentoring them with their science projects in Grade 3.
“They were more mature and more into what they were doing this year,” she said. “I hope that they’re going to continue with that … and try to do more on their project.”
Heading into the summer, Permanand and Green want to expand on their experiment and collect more data on the viability of using slag to fill potholes, help with agricultural production and make sandpaper-like material.
This material is in plentiful supply in Thompson, since Vale and previously Inco have been stockpiling the glassy byproduct from their mining production for years.
“The only thing we need is Vale to give us permission to continue to use the slag, which we think they will because it doesn’t serve any purpose,” said Permanand.
In total, 12 Manitoba students walked away from the 2019 CWSF with prizes, including 16-year-old Sarah Grieves from Oxford House, who also won a bronze medal and $1,000 entrance scholarship for testing soil contamination in her community.
