On 6 April 2013, the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus was packed with hundreds of students who participated in this year’s annual Toronto Sci-Tech Fair competition.

The Toronto Science Fair is an opportunity for Torontonian students to show their passion for the Sciences and share their innovative ideas. Students from grade 7-12 were all waiting anxiously by their board while their projects were being evaluated. Two to three judges, often specialists in their respective fields, were assigned to each board to listen to a short overview given by the presenters.

This year, the MGCI contingent consisted of ten projects  – seven in grade 9, two in grade 11, and one in grade 12. The grade 9 students were selected from 28 projects based on the marks received from their science teacher while seniors submitted projects individually to Mr. van Bemmel.

Throughout the day, competitors shared their projects with each other. This year’s innovative ideas ranged from applications of  Bernoulli’s principal to a self-inflating tourniquet for people in the military. Kate Zhao and Helen Zheng, grade 9 MGCI students, studied the amazing strength of spider silk. Deifilia To and Vicky Xu analyzed  the effects of OCD and stress. Ryan Marks, a grade 11 MGCI student, built a 3-D printer. Yang Chen, a grade 12 senior, looked at an imaging technique to search for cancer cells. Besides presenting their projects, the participants had the privilege to listen to some lectures, including one given by Professor William Gough, Dept. of physical and Environmental Science University of Toronto Scarborough, who spoke about “Hudson Bay polar bears in a changing climate.”

“It was a really great opportunity to go to the science fair and see what students all across Toronto were interested in”, said Deifila.

Although no one in MGCI advanced to the Nationals in Lethbridge, Alberta, our school came home with seven awards! David Wang, Yang Chen, Vicky  Xu and Deifilia To received Gold medals, Arora Chen, Victoria Yuan, Yilin Zhu, and Lily Cao was awarded with Silver, while Ryan Marks, Kate Zhao, and Helen Feng received Bronze.