CALEB NICKERSON
CHAPEAU March 14, 2018
A group of students from Dr. Wilbert Keon School (DWKS) in Chapeau are looking for funds to represent their province in an international science competition.
Staff coordinator Russell Dennis explained that two teams from DWKS recently participating in a regional contest in Hull, as part of Destination Imagination, a program run through the school board that seeks to foster student interest in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math), through creative expression.
“They had to present their solution to the open-ended problem: ‘An Unlikely Attraction’, in which teams must showcase a fairground attraction in an unlikely location,” he explained in an email. “The solution must include drama, science, technical know-how, and fine arts. It is presented in front of an audience and a panel of judges and it takes the form of an eight-minute skit.”
Dennis explained that the school has participated for the past seven or eight years but this is the first time both teams took home gold.
“It’s really quite a complex thing. They had to come up with everything on their own, all the building and scriptwriting, it was a very independent challenge,” he said, adding that the children have been working on the projects once a week since the September, ramping up to twice a week after Christmas.
The older group, The Supreme Saturnians, is made up of grade seven and eight students: Madison Cortese, Aliah Fleury, Cheyenne Gagnon, Maggie-Lynn McDonald, Raya Fleury, Cameron Ranger and Ben Lepine with Dennis as their manager.
Dennis explained that in their presentation, students act out an encounter between astronauts and extraterrestrial lifeforms on Saturn. He said that there is also a team choice element to the competition, where the students can show off special talents, and the secondary team performed some acrobatics and gymnastics.
DWKS also sent a elementary level contingent under the name The Bomb Records, made up of Meadow Cortese, Kyra Teschner, Isabelle Lepine, Alexus Kaldi and Mackenzie Fitzpatrick, with teacher Angie Sheppard as their manager.
Dennis said that the younger students chose to create a rather unusual attraction: a graveyard full of carnival games. Their team choice element consisted of a ukelele parody of “You are my Sunshine.”
“They called it, ‘You are my Darkness’, because it was in a graveyard, very macabre,” Dennis said with a laugh.
Both teams took first place over the other Outaouais squads, though only the secondary level winners go on to compete at the international competition, which is held in Knoxville Tenessee. This year the Global Finals, as they are known, will take place from May 23-26 and attract over 8,000 students from 15 countries.
Dennis ball parked the cost of the trip at around $10,000, which will include airfare, registration, meals and other incidentals.
“The kids have managed to raise a couple hundred dollars already. We only found out just before March break, so we’re really only getting started with the fundraising,” he said. “It’s really exciting, they’re going to meet kids from all over the world. Hopefully they make friends that will last a lifetime and they’ll be representing Quebec while they do it.”
Those wishing to donate to the trip can contact Dennis at rdennis@wqsb.qc.ca or phone the school at (819) 689-2488.
