A Niverville teenager was recently recognized at the Manitoba Schools Science Symposium (MSSS), the largest annual science event in Manitoba.
A ninth grade student, Ava Lagasse, previously competed in the MSSS when she was in the sixth and seventh grades. Held the final week of April, the Symposium is open to students from Grades Four through Twelve. At it, more than 500 students present their research to top scientists and industry experts. Participants present their projects in four age groups and nine divisions, where they can win medal, awards, scholarships, program enrollments, as well as trips worth $30,000.
“Students who win gold at the school level science fair are encouraged to register for the MSSS, so in Ava’s case, she won gold at the [high school] science fair and then registered afterwards for the MSSS,” explains her mom, Tasha Lagasse.
The family moved to Niverville last summer.
The three-day symposium begins with the students setting up their projects on Thursday, with experiments and presentations starting on Friday. The judging portion of the weekend takes place all-day Saturday, where the students are judged by upwards of 12 judges—more if the student is in a special category—before the awards are given out on Sunday.
“Ava’s project was called Fertilizer Wars, and it basically compared chemical fertilizers to organic fertilizers,” she says. “She wanted to know which type would produce the best plants. Ava came up with this topic because her stepfather is an avid gardener, and she wanted to do this experiment to help him produce the best vegetables and plants for our garden. She has not presented on this topic before.”
As Ava was competing in a special category, she was one of the last students to complete her judging component. The 14-year-old went on to win three awards—a gold medal, Best in Plant Science (Intermediate), and a Geoscience Award (Intermediate) with a $200 cash prize.
“To see Ava get called up over and over was an immensely proud moment for me,” says her mom. “I am proud of Ava in general because she is an awesome, talented kid and such a high achiever. However, this was even more special to me because Ava did not want to register for the MSSS in fear of a long, boring weekend. I encouraged her to register because I felt her project was so well done, and in the end it was truly worth it for her to be there.”
Ava put in a lot of grunt work during the research part of the experiment, leading to her high-level of execution during the Symposium.
“During the process of performing the experiment, which was about eight weeks in total, I wanted to make sure that I was getting the most accurate results, so I really made sure to be meticulous when measuring the plants and watering them, etc.,” says Ava. “When it got time for the actual science fair and the judging, I was a little bit nervous… During the awards ceremony, I was also quite nervous because I had stayed late for special awards judging. When my name got called multiple times, it felt very rewarding and I felt like my work had meaning to it.”