York Region students win 1 gold, 4 silver medals at national science fair

York Region students also took home 1 bronze medal at the competition held in New Brunswick

Yorkregion.com
June 3, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

York Region students did so well this year at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, scooping up one gold and four silver medals at the competition, which took place in Fredericton, N.B.

Harry Parmar from Maple High School received a gold medal and innovation challenge award for his project "Synthetic Violacein: Exploring the Power of Designer Pharmaceuticals in Real World."

Patricia Rea from Markham's St. Justin Martyr CES, a silver medallist, won the award for her "BioGrade Yeast: Biomanufacturing with Antifreeze-Yeast on Mars."

Ahmed Nadeem from St. Robert CHS, in Thornhill, won a silver medal for his project, "A novel approach to alleviate oxidative stress in Daphnia magna by D-limonene."

Yaseen Abbas from Richmond Hill's St. Theresa of Lisieux CHS, won silver for "Anthocyanins: A Natural Deterrent to Carcinogenesis."

Mira Bhattacharya also from Lisieux CHS won a silver medal along with the York University STEM Entrepreneur Bootcamp Scholarship Award.

There was also a bronze medallist.

Anna Tymofyeyeva from Thornhill S.S. won a bronze medal for her project, "An Integrated Glucose Meter Using Sweat Diagnostic Technology for Diabetics."

Before heading to New Brunswick for the competition, which took place from May 11 to 18, more than 100 students from the York Region District School Board participated in the regional science fair held at York University in April and took home over 50 awards.

“We are so proud of our students for their success at the national and international science fairs last week,” said Heather Sears, superintendent of education, curriculum and instructional services. “At all levels, our students continue to impress us with their ability to think critically, make connections and apply their scientific knowledge.”

In addition, two students from Richmond Hill H.S. had represented Canada in mid-May at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Ariz. Kamron Zaidi and Sabrina Zaidi placed fourth in the plant sciences category for their project, "The Effect of Surface Tension on Plant Growth in Fogponics."

York Region District School Board is the third largest school district in Ontario with over 124,000 students in 177 elementary schools and 33 secondary schools. York Region students consistently perform above average in provincial testing and the board is one of the top achievers in Ontario. For more information about YRDSB, please visit the board website and follow @YRDSB on Twitter.