Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 24, 2007

IQALUIT -Inuksuk high school students faced no easy task during the Science Olympics held on Sept. 12.

Their mission was to construct a container to protect an egg from cracking during a 15-foot drop from the balcony to the gymnasium floor. With only newspapers, a coffee filter, straws, elastics, string, a paper cup and masking tape, students had to work together to figure out the best way to ensure their egg remained intact.

The egg drop was the unanimous favorite of three activities held during the Science Olympics.

The afternoon event, which also included paper airplane contests and a floating tower competition, was part of the teacher adviser program for students (TAPS). It's a one-year-old pilot project for the North. Every student is paired with a teacher, different from their homeroom teacher, in a group of approximately a dozen people. Every TAPS group has students from each of the grades.

"It's a way for students to see more teachers, and they are another person to turn to if they need to talk," Joey Rhodes, a math and science teacher and department head said.

The Science Olympics was the first TAPS activity of the year and was a great way for grade nine students to meet older students and teachers, Rhodes said. All of the school's students were divided into their TAPS teams and worked together planning and building a container to protect eggs, an airplane that would fly the furthest and do stunts, and a floating tower that would rise above the rest. Construction designs varied from the conservative, to wacky, to just plain hopeful.

"I'm going to put elastic around the egg and then paper around it," said Grade 11 student Sup Stokes.

"We're going to make a parachute out of coffee filters," said Jimi Davidee, whose team was wrapping the egg in string, putting it inside of the cup, and then attaching the parachute with string. "Hopefully it won't break."

"There was a more than 90 per cent survival rate," Rhodes said of the eggs. The winning airplane flew 14 metres and the triumphant floating tower measured more than two metres.

The Olympics lasted for only two hours but the students "needed every second of it," Rhodes said.

"It was fast and furious."

The winning team was treated to a pizza party.

Another TAPS day is planned for second semester, with a similar slate of activities.