ESTEVAN - The Grade 8 class at St. Mary’s School in Estevan showcased their creative minds, their ingenuity and their love for technology during the school’s inaugural innovation fair Thursday.
A total of 15 projects were on display in the gymnasium. Working on their own, or in teams of two or three, the students came up with their own ideas and concepts. Some of them had strong local applications, such as an app with information on Estevan, or a project that championed carbon capture and storage technology.
Others, such as separate app projects that track school buses and trains, could have broader uses. One student created a video game. Another group proposed using drone technology to deliver pizzas to people, reducing delivery time and ensuring pizza would be hot.
As part of the project, students looked at a problem they wanted to address, and used innovation to solve it.
Teacher Agnes Garrioch and educational assistant Katherine Kawecki marvelled at the efforts of the students.
“It’s been amazing to see the progress from the first month of school to now, and how all of their designs have transformed over time, with feedback from peers and community members and their own groups,” Garrioch told the Mercury.
“I just think it’s so cool, because I didn’t do anything like this when I was in elementary school, so to be able to see what these kids can do with all of the technology, it’s awesome,” said Kawecki.
They were particularly impressed with the practical ideas that were studied, and how those concepts could help local residents.
Students worked on the projects almost every other day since the start of the school year. And they dedicated a full day on Oct. 26.
“We focused totally on designs, last-minute work on it and also had feedback from everyone on changing the designs,” said Garrioch.
The Grade 8s fellow students dropped by the gymnasium to see the projects. The Grade 8s took a lot of pride on their work.
“You work on it for all of these hours, and to be able to show it off, they’re super excited to be able to do it,” said Kawecki.
The carbon capture project was popular with students, because it incorporated Minecraft, so kids get to play games.
“They’re excited to get to do these kind of things. As a school, we have a lot of technology, we have a lot of opportunities for deep learning, so they’re excited to do that as well in their own classrooms,” said Garrioch.
Students started working on their projects in preparation for the inaugural Innovation Conference that was to be hosted by the City of Estevan last month. When the conference was postponed until next year, the school decided to forge ahead with its own event.
The Innovation Fair doesn’t mark the end for the students, either. They will collect feedback, take it back to the class, rethink their design, reach out to a community member and pitch the idea to them.
