Chesterfield Inlet (Mar 10/03) - A group of students at Victor Sammurtok school in Chesterfield Inlet may have a bright future ahead of them in the field of engineering.

Students in grades 9 through 12 recently had a chance to design and build their own towers made of Popsicle sticks with impressive results.

Teacher Glen Brocklebank says the students are gearing up for the school's science fair on March 26.

The students judged to have the best science projects at the local level will then travel to Repulse Bay for the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair from March 31 to April 3.

The theme of this year's regional fair is astronomy.

"Basically, we're trying to get their minds thinking about science fair projects," says Brocklebank.

"We're going to hold this science challenge every Thursday until the regional fair to get them thinking about how to create things, how to adapt them, what works and what doesn't."

For the first science challenge, the students were given 300 Popsicle sticks each.

They were told to construct a tower, focusing on trying to build either the tallest or the strongest structure.

The challenge began at 1 p.m., with students being given about 80 minutes to come up with their design and then construct their towers using the Popsicle sticks and glue. The entire group and their teachers then headed to the local arena for a game of broomball to wait for their projects to cement.

"By the time we returned, the glue had all dried and hardened, so we started to load the text books on top of the towers. The winner had 32 books stacked on top of it."

Billie-Jo Putulik and Lindsay Alogut built the strongest tower. Brocklebank says the students are starting to get quite excited about the regional fair in Repulse Bay.

"Word has spread around the region that the organizers are trying to get some exciting things in place, including some pretty cool workshops on astrology and having a Canadian astronaut come to Repulse Bay.