Congratulations to Youmna A. and Samantha P. for advancing to the Canada Wide Science Fair in Edmonton! The grade 11 students, from Francis Libermann Catholic High School’s STEAM program, presented their project at the Toronto regional fair held at the University of Toronto Scarborough. The pair won a gold medal as well as each receiving a $1000 entrance scholarship to the University of Ottawa, for their tremendous effort. They were chosen to be one of the seven projects comprising Team Toronto, proudly representing the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) at the Nationals in May.
Their project, The Framework that Survives Hurricanes, aimed to answer the question, “Does increasing the height of the beams on a structure’s pier and beam foundation affect its resilience against hurricanes?” The students built set-to-scale model homes, differing only in beam height on each of their pier and beam foundations. They subjected each home to an identical hurricane simulation, which was followed by the collection of data. They found that the height of the beams on a house’s pier and beam foundation increases the structure's resilience against hurricanes.
The Canada Wide Science Fair will be held the week of May 15, and we wish Youmna and Samantha all the best!