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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-04-26, Page 5County's best young scientists show work at Science Fair The young minds of Huron County put their work on display again Saturday at the annual Huron County Science Fair at Clinton. The students, mostly from Grades 7 and 8 and this year combining, for the first time, the work of the Huron County Board of Education schools with that of the Huron Schools of the Huron-Perth Roman Catholic Separate Schools, showed a wide range of interests from the strength of glues to the effect of cholesterol. Many students looked for their inspiration close to home. Ruth Ann Bakker, of Brookside School, for instance, studied the growth rates of calves, comparing calves raised inside the bam with calves raised outside in calf hutches. Sharon Godkin had her project on “Are your clothes Shrinking’’ and Heidi Scrimgeour and Nikki Snell of Blyth Public School looked at the cleaning ability of various household substances in their pro­ ject “Wash ‘n Wear’’. Many of the projects by girls revolved around household experi­ ments like the absorbing ability of Grey Central student wins big at Fair Manivan Laprom of Grey Central School in Ethel will be one of three Huron County students going to the Canada Wide Science Fair in St. Johns, Newfoundland from May 13 to 21. Miss Laprom was perhaps the biggest single winner at the Huron County Science Fair in Clinton Saturday. Besides winning the chance to go to Newfoundland she also won the Conservation Awards given by the Maitland Valley and Ausauble-Bayfield Conservation Authorities for having the top conservation-related project. She also was chosen one of the top three winners in the Grade 8, Physical Science competition. Others going to St. John’s in­ clude Marc Poulin of Wingham Public School for his project on “Antacids” and Jason Hayter of Robertson Memorial Public School in Goderich for his project on “Tire Size Vs. Speed”. Three other local students scored in the top three of their division. Jason Galloway of Brussels Public School won in the Grade 8 Biologi­ cal division for his project on “The Growth of Beans” along with Marc Poulin and Ruth Anne Bakker of Brookside with her project on “Calf Jason Galloway demonstrates how to control the growth of bean plants in his project that placed as one of the top three grade 8 biological projects of the Huron County Science Fair in Clinton Saturday. diapers. For boys the theme of cars played a role. Two of the winning projects involved cars. Jason Hay- ter of Robertson Memorial Public School in Goderich did a project on “Speed vs. Tire Size”, looking at the effect of different tire sizes on the speed of a car. Jason Elliott of Blyth Public School looked at designing safer road-side barriers in his project “Crash - The Sound of Money”. Perhaps most heartening is the obvious concern with the environ­ ment shown by many of the students in their projects. Manivan Larprom of Grey Central School, one of the big winners of the day dealt with Crop Residue Coverage as a way of saving soil. Shauna Hem­ ingway of Goderich Township Pub­ lic School dealt with the “Effects of Acid Rain on Crops” while Adam Agar of St. James School, Seaforth, dealth with the effect of hydro lines on crops. They were just some of the environmentally-related pro­ jects. In all there were 74 students with 64 projects taking part in the annual event. Thirty-two schools were represented. Housing”. In the Grade 8 Physical category Jason Elliott of Blyth with his project “Crash - The Sound of Money” was one of the top three along with Miss Laprom’s and Jason Hayter’s projects. In the computer category Kevin Shillinglaw’s project, “Computer Component’s” was chosen one of the top three along with David Morlock of Stephen Central with his “Computer Quizzes” and Marc Stefflin of Wingham Public School with his “Input Devices”. In the Grade 7 Biology section winners were Shauna Hemingway of Goderich Twp. with her project “Effect of Acid Rain on Crops”; Adam Agar, St. James, Seaforth for “Hydro and Crops”; and Robert Thomson, Robertson Me­ morial, Goderich for “Cholester- all”. In the Grade 7 Physical award winners were Joel Siebert, Zurich for “All Stuck Up” (about glues); Ian Jean, Mt. Camel School for “Comparative Strength of Wood Building Materials”; and Tyler White and John Baker of Goderich Twp. for “What Fabric Will Re­ duce Sound the Most.” Manivan Larprom of Grey Central School was the big winner at the Huron County Science Fair in Clinton Saturday. Here she holds the Conservation Award, nearly as big as she is, that was presented by the MVCA and Ausable- Bayfield Conservation Authorities for the best conservation-related project. She also won a trip to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Newfoundland in May. The International i,Scene J____________________________________________________ ' Is small farm on way out? BY RAYMOND CANON The Ontario Conference of Cath­ olic Bishops recently released a 15 page letter in which the bishops deplored the apparent decline of the small family farm. Too many of these farms, they stated, are being taken over by multinational corpor­ ations who are specializing in agri-business and whose only mo­ tive is profit. To arrest this slide, the report called on more govern­ ment aid to help in the restructur­ ing of farm debt, more incentives for young farmers, revised crop insurance programs in which the government will agree to take a larger percentage of the risk and better marketing mechanisms. I share the concern of the Catholic bishops but as an econo­ mist a great deal of what they want reminds me of the story of King Canute standing in front of the incoming tide and ordering it to stop. I say this after having looked at what is going on in the United States; the situation there is not too much different than what is to be found here only on a much bigger scale, of course. Let’s take a look! In the United States the whole farm economy is in a state of-flux mainly because of changing de­ mands by consumers, not to men­ tion rising prices of feed. If we look at the consumer first, we find that there are four main trends in the food market. First of all the majority of American families no longer want to spend much time preparing their meals. A report by two economists at Michigan State University have found that, since two-thirds of these families now have micro-wave ovens, about 15 minutes is all that they want to dedicating to getting a meal ready. In addition the same families are opting more for high quality foods and to this end they are prepared to buy more expensive ready-prepar­ ed meals. It is something of a vicious cycle in that the more the micro-wave and the prepared food is used, the less time and effort people spend on upgrading their cooking skills. People are also not only travell­ ing more; they are eating out more. Just look at the number of restaur­ ants there are of one kind or another compared to what was to be found 25 years ago. I did a quick count and discovered that in Lond­ on alone there are no less than 75 Chinese restaurants. They would not all be there unless there were a sufficient demand for them. The travelling and eating out are bring ing more variety into the diets of Americans and when they are not concentrating on the variety, they are showing a greatly increased interest in health foods, especially those free of fat and cholesterol and high in fibre. If that is what people want, the food suppliers have to respond to it, not at some time in the future but right now. As these patterns of consumption change, it is the Continued on page 19