Nunavut puts in another strong showing at national science fair

The Kivalliq contingent of Ivalu Leishman-Brocklebank and Kayalaaq Leishman-Brocklebank, of Chesterfield Inlet, and Millie Aaruaq, of Baker Lake, put in a strong showing at the Canada-Wide Science Fair held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton from June 1-6.

Ana Leishman of Chesterfield Inlet accompanied the three to the national fair and said they did Nunavut proud at the event.

Grade 10 student Ivalu had the top project in the intermediate category for her project 'Testing Ivalu' (caribou sinew used as thread). Aaruaq was looked upon as the “darling” of the event, according to Leishman, while Kayalaaq presented a strong project on willows. The latter was an expansion of her 2024 entry —determining climate data for the past 30 years and relating that to the growth range of willows to see which ones are growing faster.

Leishman said Aaruaq has a really big personality and is remarkably positive and happy.

She said everyone at the fair was drawn to her because of her personality and she did a great job in presenting her project, 'Thawing Out The Truth', on frostbite and how Inuit traditionally treat it.

“She did a great job presenting her project to the general public and told us she did very well during the judging,” said Leishman, noting that delegates were not allowed to be with the students during the judging period.

“She got to know everyone on Team UV, which is all the university students who helped run the show.

“Our whole delegation represented Nunavut amazingly during the event. They were all super positive, super kind and respectable, and they made lots of friends from Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“They just did very, very well there and we were super-proud of them.”

Leishman said Nunavut has a history of doing quite well at the national science fair and this year was no exception.

In fact, she said, a number of people thought this year was the best Nunavut has ever done at the national level.

“I think our performance this year carried on the tradition of showing that Western science and cultural learning can match up well.

“With Ivalu being her name, of course she wanted to know how to make it. She did a survey of a number of excellent seamstresses in town and asked them if they've ever used ivalu and Theresa Kukkiak showed her how to make it.

“A lot of the judges actually commented to Ivalu that they learned the most from her project. So, overall, our team did very, very well and, again, we're just super proud of their effort.

“In fact, we couldn't be any more proud of the work they did.”