Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (Wednesday, March 22, 2017) – FortisTCI (the Company) is pleased to announce the winners of the FortisTCI National Science and Technology Fair held in conjunction with the Ministry of Education on Providenciales from Wednesday, March 8th – Thursday, March 9th 2017. Now in its 8th year, the event was held at the Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex under the theme, ‘Innovative Exploration through the Scientific Method’.
Nearly 150 primary and high school students took part in the two-day event, which included science quizzes and project competitions for both primary and high schools as well as a graphic arts and creative arts poster competition for high schools. Also included in the Education Week activities was the Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum Foundation’s History and Cultural Heritage Quiz held at the Brayton Hall on Tuesday, March 7th 2017. Seven schools from around the islands competed for the coveted title of History and Heritage Cultural Quiz Champs and after 100 questions, it was Raymond Gardiner High School of North Caicos that emerged victorious.
FortisTCI Senior Vice President of Corporate Services and CFO Ruth Forbes said, “The National Science and Technology Fair is no doubt a game-changing partnership that will deliver significant value for our young minds and by extension, the country. Science and Technology are disciplines critical to the sustainable development of any country, and as such, FortisTCI is excited about engaging our young people in scientific and technological exploration outside of their norm. We were proud to see the high quality and creativity that went into the various projects; indeed, this fair plays a vital role in nurturing the future science and technology talent of the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
The top award went to Holy Family Academy, which won the high school science project competition with their creation of a 3-D printer. These winning students will be sponsored by FortisTCI to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to be held in Los Angeles in May 2017. There they will represent the Turks and Caicos Islands by observing the fair, which will allow Turks and Caicos Islands to officially participate in this prestigious event next year.
This year, there were several changes to the standards of practice for the FortisTCI National Science and Technology Fair as all students competing in the science project portion were required to adhere to the rules and regulations set forth in the ISEF guidelines, as preparation for the upcoming official visit from the ISEF representatives to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Given the many changes to the longstanding standards of practice, all the schools did a great job of implementing these guidelines into their projects.
FortisTCI would like to say congratulations to all the students who participated in this year’s fair and thank you to the Ministry of Education, which hosts the event in conjunction with the Company every year. A special thanks also to the supportive members of the community who came out to cheer on our country’s young minds and everyone who helped to make this event the amazing success that it was.