SCIENCE FAIR SUCCESS!
by Lynn Westcott, Entomologist, Northern BC Youth Engagement Coordinator for SCWIST
Meet Tess Wellington.

Tess and I were introduced by a mutual friend who knew that we had similar scientific interests; Tess wanted to do a science fair project on bees, and bees are my area of entomological specialty.
We met several times in 2017 and early 2018. After much research and consideration of several project ideas, Tess focused her study on testing different artificial nests, which she made herself, and their attractiveness to local native bees.
Tess found that mason bees appeared to prefer wooden nests. Tess’s project garnered two awards at the Northwest Regional Science Fair held in Prince Rupert in April 2018: Tess won silver in her category and she also won the award provided by the British Columbia Institute of Agrologists.
While those awards themselves were an outstanding result, perhaps even more exciting was that Tess’s success at the regional fair resulted in a trip to the National Science Fair in Ottawa in May 2018. More accolades came to Tess at the national event, as she won a bronze award in the junior category.
Of her science fair experience, Tess said: “I really enjoyed science fair. I got to go to Nationals in Ottawa to present my project to the judges, and the judges were really nice. They offered a large selection of interesting STEM activities to attend. I would love to go back to Nationals again next year.”
Tess is currently working on a project for the 2019 regional science fair that builds on her results from last year. During a recent mentoring session, Tess, who is going into grade 8 in September, said she plans to do science outreach work with students at her old elementary school in the upcoming year.
It was inspiring and heartening to hear that she wants to share her interest and enthusiasm for science with her peers! It has been a delight and incredibly rewarding to serve as a mentor for this enthusiastic, bright young woman.
Tess plans to become a neuroscientist in the future; in addition to science, she also wants to pursue art when she moves on to post-secondary education — she recently told me that she likes the acronym ‘STEAM’ because it includes art along with science, technology, engineering, and math.
Remember her name; I have no doubt we’ll be seeing this awesome young woman in one or more STEAM fields in the not-so-distant future.
