Day 3 - School Tours and Discovery Day

Another easy start to the day, the shift in time zones is helping most people with the morning schedule.  After breakfast the team was off for another morning of Public Viewing, today including school tours from some of the Lethbridge school systems.  It gave everyone a chance to practice a bit more, and also get to know their fellow finalists a bit better on the exhibit floor.

Former BASEF student Ben Gulak, who 10 years ago won ISEF trips from our fair, received the first annual CWSF Alumni Award, and was at the exhibit hall in the morning...

Public viewing ended for lunch, and in the afternoon we had "Discovery Day", which consisted of a number of activities across the campus.  The team split up a bit for these, as everyone has different activities that they attended, on topics ranging from medicine, to robotics, to wind power, to music and art.  Some were more interesting than others, though...

After the afternoon activities, some of the team took the opportunity in the spare time to take another hike on the beautiful grounds surrounding the campus.  After dinner (roast chicken), we gathered in one of the lounges.... first to watch the end of the Leafs game, and then to have a team meeting to discuss judging day and answer questions, as well giving a few tips and suggestions.  Many of the team are a bit nervous, but they are also experts on their projects and are all in a great position to explain their work really well.  The students and projects of Team BASEF are top notch, and we're very proud to these representatives of our region here at the Canada-Wide Fair.

After the meeting (and the end of the hockey game.....), some of us went on another walk outside, and others wound down a bit at the participant's lounge.  And then to bed for everyone, to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

Day 2 - Campus Tour, Public Viewing, Opening Ceremonies

Today started with a bonus - no early wake-up time.  Of course, because of the travel time change (two hours earlier than Ontario), most of the team woke up between 6am and 7am anyways and headed down for an early breakfast, well before the 8:30am that they were allowed.

This morning was an easy schedule... one the late risers of the team had their breakfast, we went out to the trails beside the University of Lethbridge and took another look at the great surroundings.  Some were a bit more adventurous than others, but once again it was a great day to go exploring - however a bit windy today too!  Lethbridge was living up to its reputation as one of the windiest cities in Canada.

We went on a tour of the Lethbridge University campus, that gave us a good feel for the types of work and teaching that are done here... plus an even greater appreciation for the large number of stairs in this place!

 

 After the tours we spent a bit of time practicing the project presentations to each other.

 

 After lunch, it was time for the first public viewing session, which went well.  Then at 5pm it was time to board buses and head into Lethbridge for the Opening Ceremonies.

After the Opening Ceremonies, a bit of time was spent at the lounges, and the another day in Lethbridge is over.  Monday will bring another session of public viewing in the morning, and some on-campus activities in the afternoon.  Stay tuned!

Day 1 - Arrival

The good news was that our flight left from Hamilton Airport, a low stress and crowd-free location... the bad news was that we had to all be at the airport by 5:30am.  Everyone made it and the efficient Westjet staff had us checked in quickly, and soon we were boarding our plane to Calgary.

After a four our flight our arrival in the Calgary airport was also uneventful, and soon we were again on the move by bus for the trip to the University of Lethbridge campus.  A 2 1/2 hour bus ride later (which some spent watching the prairie scenery pass by, and others spent trying to catch up on sleep), and we were pulling in to the CWSF event on the University of Lethbridge campus.

After lunch and an orientation, we started to set up our project boards. Most teams had not arrived yet, so the exhibit hall had a lot of elbow room!  This year all participants used the new backboard system, meaning that all projects were standardized into pre-assembled display units.  Project boards were either taped on the the display page by page, or else large-format project prints were used and taped directly to the boards.

After project setup, another leisurely pace as we had dinner, and then attended a "Meet and Greet" social event.  By shortly after 9:00pm most of us were long out of energy, and so it was back to the residences and off to bed...

Tomorrow we have campus tours and some other on-campus events, and then the first public viewing session starting at 2:00pm.

Be sure to check out pictures on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/teambasef

You can download high resolution versions of our pictures from our flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/sets/72157633438750758/

Team BASEF at Canada-Wide 2013

 

 Some of Team BASEF, at the BASEF Awards

The reports are finished, the backboards are (mostly) finished, and packing has (hopefully) begun... the countdown is on for Team BASEF to depart for the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

The 52nd annnual Canada-Wide fair is being held this year in Lethbridge, Alberta.  Hundreds of students, judges, and volunteers will descend onto the University of Lethbridge campus for a week of competition, tours and events.

Check back starting May 11th to 18th, 2013, for the latest news, photos, and updates.