(Cornwall) – Seaway District High School students Emytt Fetterly and Maclean Machan made it into an elite club on Saturday – the top one-tenth per cent.

The Grade 7 students won an all-expenses paid trip to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Montreal May 15-20, after their project Salt vs. Ice was selected as the top junior project at the 41^st Annual United Counties Science Fair, hosted at St. Lawrence Secondary School in Cornwall. The pair overcame daunting odds. About 500,000 Canadian students complete science fair projects each year in Canada, with only 500 advancing to national competition.

The intermediate students’ project tested the efficiency of various salts from “fast-melt” to table salt in melting ice. Through the scientific process the pair evaluated each formulation’s effectiveness in melting ice for different lengths of time. They proved that fast-melt was best for a short period, but basic table salt works best for longer periods of 30-40 minutes.

“It feels really good,” said Fetterly of the win. “I never had the experience of going to a science fair and seeing a bunch of really good projects that could be useful in my life. It’s really cool.”

“I feel pretty stoked because this is my first year at the science fair and I guess we did a pretty good job,” added Machan.

Apart from winning the Rotary Club of Cornwall Plaque for best junior project, the pair were also “stoked” because they won an Outstanding Research Award Certificate along with a $200 prize for entering one of the top six projects at the fair.

Judge Daniel O’Neil said the boys’ project was selected because of the precision of the experiment, the boys’ ability to explain their results to judges, and the experiment’s practical applications.

Another big winner at the fair was the team of Viscount Alexander Public School students Vincent Jean-Louis and Aum Shah. The pair’s experiment, Solar Powered AA Battery Charger won the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association Trophy for best atom project. They collected a variety of other hardware including: the St. Lawrence College Technology and Trades Trophy for best in physical science; the Ontario Power Generation Trophy for best in energy; the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists Trophy for best in applied science; the Manufacturing Process Integration Quality Control Trophy for best in electronics, electricity, electrical engineering and/or related technology, and an Outstanding Research Award Certificate ($200 prize).

The pair tested three types of rechargeable batteries to see which ones most effectively recharged using a solar-powered charger, highlighting the importance of using renewable energy. The students charged the batteries and tested which ones were the most effective by using them to power toy cars.

Other top Upper Canada District School Board winners at the fair, their projects and awards included:

·       Anisha Banga, St. Lawrence Secondary School, Gateway to the Universe, United Counties Science Fair Silver Award ($100 prize), Grant-Marion Construction Ltd. Trophy for Excellence in Science

·       Heath Patterson, Longue Sault Public School, Invertebrate Indicators: Relating Biodiversity to Water Quality, United Counties Science Fair Silver Award ($100 prize), Parks Canada Trophy for Best in Environmental Science

·       Erika Jordan, Seaway District High School, Hot and Cold, Outstanding Research Award Certificate ($200 Prize), Pommier Award