Bad weather prevented students from the communities of Naujaat and Coral Harbour from attending the 2019 edition of the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair on March 15 to 17 at Qitiqliq Middle School in Arviat.
The annual fair is sponsored by the Kivalliq Science Educators' Community (KSEC) and is hosted by a different school in the region each year.
KSEC co-president Glen Brocklebank said they tried to have the student projects from the two communities judged at the fair, despite the students absence.
But, he said, things just didn't work out despite their best efforts.
"We got their teachers to send the projects to us, we put them on a display board and then we arranged a time during the judging period for the students to call in and still be judged over a conference call," said Brocklebank.
"It worked for the Coral students but by the time we got everything organized and everyone online we missed our window of opportunity to have the Naujaat students judged.
"The Naujaat projects were very strong, so we owe a big apology to the students of that community for not being able to include their projects due to a series of unfortunate factors.
"We're going to revisit our policy concerning students who don't make it in due to weather and try to figure out a way that ensures all of our students get a chance to participate in the future."
Brocklebank said the theme for the 2019 science fair was renewable energy and Qitiqliq Middle School did a wonderful job hosting the event.
He said Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) electrician Louie Tattuinee of Rankin Inlet made the trip to Arviat to go over a lot of what his occupation involves on the job with the students.
"We had another AEM group come in to display solar-powered cars, while two of our teachers covered different battery-powered cars and chain reactions," said Brocklebank.
"So all of the students rotated through those four stations learning different aspects of renewable energy."
Arviat's Jonathan Campbell took top spot at this year's fair with his Window Parka project.
Brocklebank said Campbell's project was unique and quite impressive.
He said Campbell developed a system of insulation and material that you put in your windows during the evening to stop convection radiation and conduction heat from leaving the house.
"Jonathan's project helps a home become more fuel efficient and is a cool idea and a great concept. I was very impressed," said Brocklebank.
"We're sending three students – Jonathan Campbell of Arviat, Dustin Issaluk of Chesterfield Inlet and Joanne Putulik of Chesterfield Inlet – to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Fredericton, New Brunswick, from May 11 to 17.
"We're sending strong projects to the Canada-Wide Science Fair and I think we'll show well but more than 50 per cent of the projects at the national fair are mentored by some university professor in a university lab, so it's a tough playing field for our students.
"There's a lot of academic support for projects in the south."