Last Wednesday, Vaiala Beach School was alive with Science as students participated in their first Science Fair.

This event was for Year 5, 6, 7 and 8 students.  

Students were free to pick their own topics and worked both at school and at home on their projects.

Anne Meredith, the Year 7 and 8 teacher and Co-ordinator of the event, said that the reasoning behind the Science Fair was to inspire young students to find Science interesting and fun. 

“Most of all, we wanted to make Science real and not just from the pages of a book because Science is all around us.”  

And that is exactly what happened when over the students took up the challenge and displayed around 60 projects. 

As the students showed their work they told adults and younger students about their discoveries.

In a bid to further inspire the students it was decided real scientists and people who work in the field would be the judges. It also illustrated the possibility that some students might one day also have a job in this area.

Judges,  Ian Buck from Samoa AgriBusiness Support, Andy McCallum from Oceania Gas, Amanda Wheatley and Briana Fruean from S.P.R.E.P. and Myles Wilkinson, a Scientist and Engineer were impressed with the quality of the projects and judging was not easy.   

After the success of this event, it is going to be an annual event and students are already talking about what they might discover next year.

Every entry can be seen by visiting www.vaialabeachschool.blogspot.com.