CHESTERFIELD INLET
Science lovers from the little school that can got their test tubes in under the wire before heading to Baker Lake this past weekend.

Sabrina Tanuayk, back left, Natasha Mosbeck, back right, Trista Kukkiak, front left, and Camille Simik were the grade three and four winners at the Victor Sammurtok School Science Fair in Chesterfield Inlet this past week. - photo courtesy of Glen Brocklebank

Victor Sammurtok School (VSS) in Chesterfield Inlet held its science fair on March 23, just four days before the regional event in Baker.

Louie Kukkiak and Qimmialuk Ipkarnerk went to the regional fair after having the top project in Chester, which compared sealskin rope to modern nylon rope.

Delilah Issaluk took the second regional qualifier for her efforts on traditional sunglasses versus their modern counterparts.

This year's fair at VSS saw 84 students enter projects, with kindergarten students entering two submissions, grades one to eight four each, grades nine and 10 entering eight and grades 11 and 12 doing six.

Teacher Glen Brocklebank said the eight judges saw this year's entries as being better overall quality than in 2014.

He said student confidence in their projects was high heading to the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair in Baker Lake from March 27 to 29 (final results were not known as of press time).

"Our top two are traditional-based projects," said Brocklebank.

"The winners interviewed nine elders on the use of sealskin rope and tested it against nylon rope.

"Our second-place finisher did Inuit Shades, which showed traditional snow goggles to actually be more effective than the majority of modern sunglasses she tested.

"During her testing, Delilah (Issaluk) found four millimetres is the optimum size of the slit to block light."

Students at VSS have done incredibly well at the regional fair over the years.

So much so that the students take a great deal of pride in their school's performance at the event.

Brocklebank said the competition at the Chester fair can be fierce.

He said earning the right to represent VSS at the regional fair is still a big deal among the students.

"Our students are proud we continually do so well at the regional fair.

"We had all new students from the grade nine and 10 class qualify for this year's regional.

"They set the bar fairly high for themselves, and were eager to qualify for a trip to the Canada-Wide Science Fair later in the year."

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