Day 7 - Grand Awards Day ... Friday May 18, 2012

O Canada ... what a day!.  Rumours says that this is one of the best showing of a Team from Canada.  Definitely, it's got to be one of what is the best day for an individual Canadian student.  Nicholas Ben Shieffer of YSC from Pickering just kicked butt!

Here are the final results from the GRAND AWARDS

Top 2,3 ($50,000 Scholarship)
     Nicholas Schieffer           YSC Pickering

Best IN Category ($5,000 + $1,000 to school + $1,000 to Fair Affiliate)
     Nicholas Schieffer           YSC Pickering             Computer Science
     Adam S                          YSC London               Earth and Planetary Sciences
     Adam Nobles                 YSC Lakehead            Environmental Management

SIYSS (Trip to London, England for .....)
     Adam Nobles                 YSC Lakehead

First Place ($3,000)


     Nicholas Schief               YSC Pickering            Computer Science
     Adam S                          YSC London               Earth and Planetary Sciences
     Adam Nobles                 YSC Lakehead            Environmental Management
     Chris                              YSC Calgary               Engineering - Electrical and Mechanical


Second Place ($1,500)


     Eunice                            Team Montreal             Environmental Science
     Rui                                 YSC Saskatoon            Plant Sciences


Third Place ($1,000)


     Marsahl Tsang                YSC Markham            Biochemistry
     Sarthak                          YSC Calgary               Medicine and Health
     Yichen                            YSC Richmond           Medicine and Health
     Sruti                               YSC Mississauga         Microbiology
     Dheveesh                       YSC  Mississauga        Energy and Transportation


Fourth Place ($500)


     Christina Ding                YSC Waterloo            Medicine and Health
     Sandro Young               YSC Ottawa               Computer Science
     Lauren Reid                   YSC Uxbridge            Energy and Transportation

Day 6 - Public Viewing and Special Awards Day ... Thursday May 17, 2012

to come

TEAM CANADA SPECIAL AWARDS

1.  American Association for Clinical Chemistry Award

               2nd place                Yichen                     $     500
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222013212
2.  American Geosciences Institute Award

               1st place                 Adam S                   $  1,000
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222009908/in/photostream/
3.  American Statistical Association Award

               3rd place                Nick Schieffer          $     750
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222009636/in/photostream/
4.  Association for Computing Machinery Award

               3rd place                Nick Schieffer          $     300
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222011734/in/photostream/
5.  CERN Award

                                             Nick Schieffer          all expense week trip to CERN
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222010784/in/photostream/
6.  CERN Award

                                             Chris                         ll expense week trip to CERN
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222010784/in/photostream/
7.  Google Award

                                             Nick Schieffer           $10,000
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222008606/in/photostream/
8.  Krishanmurtly Scumyanath Memorial Award

                1st place                Chris                        $  3,000
               http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222008200/in/photostream/
9.  Monsanto Award

                2nd place               Rui Song                  $  1,000
                http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222007784/in/photostream/
10.  United Tech Corporation Award

                                              Nick Schieffer          $  3,000 + common stock
                http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222007312/in/photostream/
11.  United Tech Corporation Award

                                              Chris                        $  3.000 + common stock
                http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/7222007312/in/photostream/

Day 5 - Judging Day ... Wednesday May 16, 2012

Judging Day started at 7:15 am and all of the kids showed up neatly dressed in their Sunday best in Cathy's and Ingrid's room for breakfast.  To reduce the unnecessary stress of having to rush to ABP and then wait for each individual's orders, it was decided that Stef and I would go to ABP at 6:30 am and bring back light breakfast items back to the hotel and serve the kids there.  Experience from past fairs suggested a light breakfast was optimal preparation.


At the same time, Stef and I dropped by at Jimmy John's, a gourmet sandwich eatery and placed an order for everyone's pre-ordered subs.  We were going to pick up the sandwiches and have them ready along with drinks and fruit at the Convention Centre for the kids when they exited from Judging at noon.  Again, this was done to avoid the stress of having gather everyone together and process them all at some eatery.

At the same time, Stef and I dropped by at Jimmy John's, a gourmet sandwich eatery and placed an order for everyone's pre-ordered subs.  We were going to pick up the sandwiches and have them ready along with drinks and fruit at the Convention Centre for the kids when they exited from Judging at noon.  Again, this was done to avoid the stress of having gather everyone together and process them all at some eatery

.As such, a non-rushed trip to the Convention Centre got the kids there well in advance of the 8:15 am target.  The first judging session starts at 8:30 am sharp. At every 15 minute intervals, a bell rings to signal judges to start their next assigned judging session, regardless if the participant had finished their presentation or not.  During the 15 minute session, an interim bell rings at the 10 minute mark to signal that in 2 more minutes the judges are to move onto their next session.  Our kids were advised to keep their presentations to an approximate 10 minutes, thereby leaving about 2 minutes for engaging the judges for discussion and any Q&A.

Day 4 - Symposium and Adult Mixer Day ... Tuesday May 15, 2015

Tuesday was going to be a touristy day but plans changed when it was discovered that VIPSs were visiting the projects between 10 am and noon.  Cathy recalled that the chief of Intel had met Ben Gulak during Ben's fair and interest of his Uno began to circulate.  Believing that the right VIP might initiate interest and directions of judges, it was wisely decided that the kids should be at their projects.

So after a hasty breakfast at you know where (ABP, code name for "Au Bon Pain"), we all headed for the Convention Centre.  While waiting for the kids, Cathy was diligently trying to find a date for her new friend Barbie Science Girl.  She accompanied Cathy for this fair in hope of learning the ropes for future fairs.  You will have to ask Cathy what special category she is in.

At the fair, Cathy tried to set Barbie up with any scientist ... it just happened that her first attempt was with a prominent Nobel laureate (1989?), Dr. J. Michael Bishop.  He was on his way to a luncheon at which three of our students (Marshal, Lloyd and Nick) attended.

I could not recall how lunch was served for the rest of us but rest assured that the kids did not go hungry.  Schedule was tight as we rushed back to the Convention Centre to be in time for the 2-4 pm Symposium with a Panel of 8 Nobel laureates.  They answered and discussed questions and topics moderated by a science correspondent.  At the end, they took time to answer specific questions from selected students ... again, Marshal, Lloyd and Nick particpated.

A funny thing ... I swore that one of the Nobel laureates sitting on the panel was perhaps our Peter Olynk's long lost twin, or perhaps, maybe Peter himself, moonlighting as a scientist.  Take a look ... even the name tag says Peter Olynk!

Later on, Peter even took time to talk to a few of our kids.  Here, he's with Nick, Marshal, Chris and JM.

Kiddings aside, as I learned from the kids later, Peter is actually Martin Chalfie, 2008 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry for his discovery of GFE (is that right, kids?)

No dinner was necessary for the evening as the whole team and chaperones proceeded to an scheduled event where the chaperones/adults were separated from the kids.  The adults were treated to a buffet dinner of chicken, fish, salad and alcoholic beverages (none of us had any??????????) held at the Heinz Field private boxes catering area.  We were royally treated and had an opportunity to see the field where the venerable Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers play their football..  The kids on the otherhand were cordoned off at some other nearby facility where they were fed and dj'ed to dance.  Several however, were anxious to leave hoping to get back to the hotel to practise more on their presentation for tomorrow.  Just could not relax.  Eventually, we all got back to the hotel, had our usual team meeting at our special team room and were instructed to curfew early (11 pm) and get up early (7:15 am) and ready for the Judgement Day (oh sorry, Judging Day)

And oh yes, I did not learn till later how we were able to travel on the Pittsburgh subway without paying.  When transporting the whole crew to Heinz Field, we all just jumped onto the Pittsburgh subway cars and never once did we see a fare attendant.  Wow, I said socialized transportation.  I later found out that there are "free" zones on the system ... but I am still not sure as to how it works.  Our "Canadian" pride took on visible evidence because we were one of the few teams that were uniformed ... therefore, when our Red entourage traveled about, we got lots of looks of curiosity.