Young innovators across Calgary competed in a series of engineering and geoscience challenges at the Olympic Oval this weekend for the 40th APEGA (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta) Science Olympics. Students from Grades 1 through 12 were split up into divisions that each participated in a variety of sports-themed STEM challenges that focus on problem solving and creative team-based brainstorming.
Some students were tasked with creating freestyle ski tracks with ski lifts out of cardboard and straws, while others designed zamboni bots that could be used on ice to remove snow. Other mystery challenges were assigned to students to encourage creative teamwork solutions without the help of coaches or instructors.
Rihana Hamze, an 11th Grade student working alongside her team, designed a unique Zamboni prototype that could suck up grains of rice through a series of fans for this challenge. Hamze has big plans for when she graduates and she appreciates the unique STEM learning experience that brought her this far already.
“Personally, I want to be an engineer, so this really helped me conceptualize being a mechanical engineer,” Hamze said. “In traditional school programs you learn about these concepts, but with this, I applied the concepts and actually constructed projects myself.”
Chelsea Brown, outreach coordinator for Apega, was impressed with the creativity put into the students’ creations for this year’s event.
“The thing that I like the most about science olympics is walking around and seeing all of the different solutions that students have come up with to the same problem, so no two prototypes are alike, and that’s what really makes it an exciting event, just seeing the diversity,” she said. “My personal philosophy is that STEM is for everyone, so there really is a place for anyone in STEM,” Brown said.
Parent and coach Ryan Danard was also impressed by this year’s turnout.
“It’s really interesting to see how involved they are and how excited they are about STEM, and kind of getting involved into the next generation of scientists, engineering, or technology,” Danard said.
Danard encourages future students to stay curious and to keep learning.
“Be brave and be bold, lean forward and come and try it out,” Danard said. “It’s really great for the community, it’s good to meet new people, it’s good for you to broaden your horizons and your education to just come out to an event like this.”
