Education and Early Childhood Development
May 30, 2017

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Dale Kirby, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development:

Minister Kirby Congratulates Eastern NL Team on Successes at Canada-Wide Science Fair

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the members of our province’s very own Eastern NL team for their outstanding performances at the 56th annual Canada-Wide Science Fair, held at the University of Regina. The competition is the largest of its kind in Canada.

Six students from the Husky Energy Eastern Newfoundland Science and Technology Fair represented the province at the event earlier this month. These students are Nora Boone, Clara Phillips and Noha Shehata from Holy Heart, Nisarg Dave from Gonzaga, Kurtis Collins from Waterford Valley and Aaron Sarkar from MacDonald Drive Junior High.

All participants presented remarkable work and represented our province with pride.

Mr. Speaker, level three student Nora Boone won a gold medal for designing a training tool for emergency brain surgery.

Ms. Boone’s simulation tool is meant to train medical staff in rural areas to safely perform emergency surgery when intracranial hematomas need to be treated before a patient can be transferred to neurosurgical care in a larger centre.

In addition to her gold medal, Ms. Boone also brought home an Innovation Challenge award and a Youth Can Innovate award valued at $1,000.

The scope and complexity of the remaining Eastern NL team members’ individual projects are truly impressive as well. Aaron Sarkar won a silver medal and Kurtis Collins, Nisarg Dave and Noha Shehata each brought home a bronze medal.

These young people clearly have bright futures ahead of them and their extraordinary work deserves to be recognized. I ask that all members of this Honourable House join me in congratulating Nora Boone, Clara Phillips, Noha Shehata, Nisarg Dave, Kurtis Collins and Aaron Sarkar on their tremendous successes on the national stage. I know we can look forward to more great things from these young people in the future.

Thank you

2017 05 30                                                                1:55 p.m.