The Central Alberta Rotary Science Fair in Red Deer is a road to the Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF) and for the sixth straight year, Olds High School student Nicole Green is passing through.

On Saturday, the Grade 12 student learned that she will be making yet another all-expenses-paid trip to the national event, this time held at Carleton University in Ottawa.

“I’m pretty honoured. When I first went in Grade 7, I would have never imagined that this would be how it turned out. It’s a pretty incredible experience,” Green said.

Green has qualified for CWSF every year since she’s been eligible and will become the first girl in the history of the Central Alberta Science Fair to accomplish that feat.

In that time, she has accumulated thousands of dollars in scholarships, including $10,000 to the University of Western Ontario.

Wherever Green winds up, she wants to study psychology. Her latest project was called, “Lead the Way: Determining the Influence of Stereotype Threat on Women in Leadership Roles.”

“Basically it was broken into two sections. The first was a survey designed to determine the presence of a stereotype against women. I found that there is a very strong negative stereotype against women. I surveyed 300 people and 77 per cent of them believe that men are stronger leaders than women,” she said.

“The second part of my experiment had task groups with both male and female leaders, compared their performance on a simple task and found that groups of male and female leaders performed exactly the same. That proves that there is no merit to that stereotype. But it’s something that still strongly exists and explains why there’s a lack of women in leadership roles across the country.”

Also headed to nationals: Correne Minty, Claire Petersen and Emily Martinez; Ben Judd and Kirk Rieberger.

Lacombe student wins free tuition

“When my name was called, I was ecstatic because I had planned on going to Red Deer College anyway but tuition was somewhat of an issue," said LCHS student Rachael Reitsma.

In her first time participating at the regional science fair, Lacombe Composite High School student Rachael Reitsma was the winner of a year’s tuition from Red Deer College for her project on electromagnetic radiation.

“When my name was called, I was ecstatic because I had planned on going to Red Deer College anyway but tuition was somewhat of an issue. I knew I could make enough money but what about other expenses, so it has been such a blessing to my life,” Reitsma said.

The Grade 12 student is deciding between physics, biology, kinesiology or nursing.

Her project was about how electromagnetic radiation relates to daily life.

“Radio waves aren’t just your FM and AM radio but also includes your Wi-Fi and television,” she said.

“It is how we are able to see anything in our life. Our brains need visible light, which is right in the middle of the spectrum … right above it is infrared radiation, where you can see through heat cameras. Below it, is ultraviolet radiation, your light from the sun. And how does ultraviolet radiation affect you? It can alter your DNA because of its high frequency.”