Matthew and Alec take Gold in International Science Competition

“Science Fair is basically where everything starts,” said 15-year-old Matthew Dookie during an interview at his school, Caribbean International Academy (CIA). “You get an idea, and you try it out to see if it works, trial and error, it’s a great experience for students.” WEEKender was visiting the private secondary school in Cupecoy to find out more about the project that won Matthew and his science fair partner, 16-year-old Alec Scarabelli, first place in the intermediate international division of the Canada Wide Science Fair Festival, held in Montreal last month. Their project “May the Phosphorus be Extracted” was entered into the International Division of the Fair, and their age placed them in the intermediate division.

The two students took on the project as a part of their regular science class with Teacher Steve Davis. Matthew: “It was mandatory and was 50% of our grade! At first we weren’t that excited about it.” They presented their project with the standard issue science fair poster display during the CIA School Wide Science Fair and were awarded with the “Best of Fair” prize. Then they found out they would be invited to attend the Canada Wide Science Festival in Montreal and they got totally psyched!

It was time to upgrade the poster, write a full report on the project and start some fundraising! Thanks to some generous donations from Princess Juliana International Airport, GEBE, ANTEC, Orco Bank, F.W. Vlaun & Sons, Island Real Estate, Lexwell Attorneys, POS Systems and numerous small donations to the students’ GoFundMe Campaign, they were able to cover the expenses of travel, registration and accommodations.

But what is the phosphorus? And why do we want to extract it? The project itself involved exploring ways to clean water that is laden with sewage and other contaminants. By researching possible methods, the two decided to try to grow some green algae, a substance which is known to have the ability to purify water of phosphorus and other pollutants. While in Puerto Rico on vacation, Alec collected some natural spring water from a swampy area. He combined that with water from a fish tank and they let it sit for 10 days. The algae were growing so they took some samples to the lab at American University of the Caribbean (AUC) for analysis. There the lab tech, Ms. Christine Headland, helped them identify the algae as Chlorella, a green plant-like organism that is just what they needed for their experiment.

They needed some nasty water next. That was easy enough; they collected from a ditch behind Raoul Illidge Sports Complex and brought it to Alec’s house (lucky mom!) to continue their experiment. They carefully created a control solution along with three experimental solutions, each with varying levels of phosphates. While the control remained untreated, the other three solutions were given varying amounts of the algae solution. The beakers with solutions were allowed to stand for 10 days and then the concentrations were analysed. Phosphates were reduced significantly in the experimental solutions, especially in the two that were given in a proportion of at least 50% algal solution. They had four judges to give their talk to and on public viewing day, they had to explain the project many times over.

The students were greatly inspired by the trip to Canada, as they had the opportunity to see other projects from around the world. “There were students presenting from Mexico, Australia, Turkey…one project was about finding a way to stop cancer cells from spreading!” They also had the opportunity to see many awesome speakers, including astronaut Chris Hadfield who is famous for playing his guitar in space.

What’s next for these two budding scientists? Alec is interested in sailing competitively and hopes to go to Europe for university where he might pursue a science degree, although he is unsure at this point. Matthew hopes to go into some form of engineering, but for now is looking forward to a move to Florida where he will attend his final years of high school and play soccer for a team there called Tampa United.


The Daily Herald

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