Tell Us Your Stories
If you have been associated with the Peterborough Regional Science Fair in any way, as a participant, a judge, a member of the planning committee etc, we would love to hear from you. Simply tell us when you were involved with the PRSF and in what way and how the PRSF has affected you. Any pictures that you could supply would be an added bonus. We hope to use some selected quotes in the brochure on fair day, on the website and at the award's ceremony. Send any information to Your Stories
1970 - The First Fair
Before 1970, Peterborough students with science fair projects had to compete in the Victoria County Science Fair in Lindsay. In 1969 the winner of the Victoria County Science Fair was a student from St Peters High School in Peterborough and the runnerup was a student from Thomas A Stewart Secondary School.
The first Peterborough Science Fair involved 25 projects and 37 participants in grades 7 to 13 from Peterborough, Northumberland and Durham counties. Yes, grade 13 still existed in 1970! It was a 2 day event with set up in the labs at Trent Universty on Friday night. Judging took place on Saturday morning and the fair was open to the public during the afternoon. The awards ceremony took place in Wenjack Theatre on Saturday night.
The 1970 fair was sponsored by The Chemical Institute of Canada. Total donations were $325. Expenses were $25 to the Youth Science Foundation and $150 for CWSF which was held at McMaster University in Hamilton leaving a balance of $150.
The first director of the PRSF was Dr Raymond March from the Trent Chemistry department. Some other members of the founding committee were Jim McNabb, a superintendent with the Peterborough school board, Mary Amyotte from Trent, Bob James a teacher from St Peters and George Watts a teacher at TASSS.
Dr Raymond March - 1st PRSF director
Although the PRSF now sends 5 participants to the CWSF, in the first few years the PRSF sent only the overall winner. In 1970 that student was Chris Parker, a grade 10 student from TASSS. His project was titled "Effects of Herbicide 2-4-D on Metabolic Rate of Mice". Although Chris did not win any awards at the CWSF, the experience of winning at the PRSF and participating in the CWSF played an important role in persuading Chris to continue with his studies even though he had very limited vision and other handicaps. The following quote is from the TASSS hall of fame.
Graduated Thomas A. Stewart 1973; BA (Geology) Queen's University, 1980; Gallaudet College, University for the Deaf, Washington, DC 1982; MA (Special Education) OISE University of Toronto, 1990. Despite a lifetime of failing health, including complete hearing loss, very limited vision and impaired motor abilities, Chris pioneered the use of technical aids to integrate the deaf with the hearing world eg. lobbying for closed-captioning services for Canadian Television, use of cued speech, use of computer aids for full communication in a group setting.
Chris Parker explains his project to Dr David Carlisle a judge at the 1st PRSF
