Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Chesterfield Inlet (Apr 14/04) - The first Kivalliq Regional Science Fair to be hosted by Victor Sammurtok school in Chesterfield Inlet is being hailed as a tremendous success, despite the best efforts of Mother Nature to dampen the event.

A total of 30 students and six teachers from across the Kivalliq travelled to Chester for the fair.

Chester's Mary Kadjuk and Rebecca Sammurtok won top honours with their project, Evalu versus Sinew.

Lindsey Alogut of Chester took second place with her project on what happens to a snowmobile when it freezes and her design for a fuel-pump heater.

Third place went to Carol Nanordluk and Nadine Angalik of Repulse Bay for their project on what oils work best in a qulliq.

Fourth place went to Billie-Jo Putalik and Sandy Natseck for their project on which is warmer between an iglu and a tent.

Kadjuk, Sammurtok, Alogut and Nanordluk will now advance to the Canada-wide Science Fair in St. John's, Nfld., from May 14-24.

Science fair committee chairperson Glen Brocklebank said the fair was complemented by a number of popular extracurricular events.

"One of the icebreaker games we played was to have the students select 10 things they would have needed to survive 100 years ago. That was a big hit with the kids," said Brocklebank.

He said one of the highlights of the annual fair is the interaction between students from the seven communities.

He said while there were a number of returnees to this year's event, the majority of students were first-time science fair participants.