The 2005 Ottawa Regional Science Fair  took place on Saturday, April 9.  Two members of the Venta Science Club participated and one came home with several awards, including 1st place in the in the Intermediate Earth and Environmental Sciences division.  He was also awarded the 2005 Pfizer Canada Ministers Award of Excellence for the Most Outstanding Project in the Fair!    His project on mudslides certainly impressed the judges.    He was also one of the nine Grand Prize winners selected to participate in an all expenses paid trip to the Canada Wide Science Fair  in Vancouver, B.C., where he was awarded an Honourable Mention in his division.  This placed him among the top 25% of the participants at this fair.  Congratulations!

Our 2005 winner did not have to look far for advice on what to expect at the Canada Wide Science Fair.   Last year, another Venta student was a Grand Prize winner and selected to attend the 2004 National Fair in Newfoundland.  She came home with a bronze medal in her division. For more information about the Ottawa Regional Science Fair, please visit www.orsf.ca.  The Canada Wide Science Fair web site can be found at: www.cwsf.ca.

Meanwhile several Venta students recently participated in the Ottawa Regional Heritage Fair on April 23.  A Grade 8 student was awarded an all expenses paid trip to Hamilton, Ontario to participate in the Provincial Heritage Fair!   He chose to research the Alouette, Canada's first satellite.  His grandfather worked on this orbiting atmospheric lab.  He and seven other students from Ottawa made the trip to Hamilton on May 18. 

Congratulations to you both!

Twelve Grade 6 and 7 Venta students worked very hard through many a lunch hour building two solar cars and designing web sites for the Solar Sprint 2005 Race that took place on Saturday, May 28 at the Museum of Science and Technology.

They were rewarded for their hard work! Team "Silicon Solar Saviours" placed third overall for best web site. Team "NoMaCarLu" placed third overall for best poster and received the award for having the fastest solar car in the race! Congratulations to both teams!

Last year their cars did not move from the starting line and the students were determined to apply the lessons learned from that experience in order to build a better car for this year's race. This is a wonderful example of perseverance and learning from your mistakes. Well done!

To see more pictures, please visit the Ottawa Solar Sprint web site at: http://www.earthdayottawa.org/solarsprint.htm

For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games, the Queen's Baton will visit all 71 nations of the Commonwealth in the period of one year and one day. The Baton will travel over 180,000 kms making it one of the world's longest relays. No other athletic games have undertaken a relay of this magnitude.

The Venta students were very honoured to have the opportunity to visit with the baton and to learn more about where it has been and where it is going next. This gives the students another opportunity to learn more about other nations and their cultural diversity.

In addition, Mr. Costescu hopes to have the students participate in the "School2School" initiative associated with the Games. This program connects schools in Australia with schools in other Commonwealth nations. The aims is for the students to learn more about each other and develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of the countries and cultures that make up the Commonwealth nations.

The Venta students were impressed with the high-tech baton that contains a special message from the Queen housed in a digital chip. The message will be read at the opening ceremony of the Games on March 15, 2006. The baton is embedded with the latest global positioning system technology as well as cameras that can transmit videos to the Melbourne 2006 Games Site. The 71 large lights on the front of the baton symbolize the 71 nations of the Commonwealth. A light comes on as the baton arrives in each country. Magnesium was used on the front panel, as Australia is one of the largest producers of magnesium in the world.

To learn more about the Commonwealth Games and to follow the Queen's Baton please visit: www.melbourne2006.com

We are an Active School! We are very pleased to announce that under the guidance of Misha Costescu - our Active School Coordinator, we have been recognized by the Government of Ontario as being committed to participating in the development and implementation of fun, quality, physical activity programmes for all of our students. Venta has been recognized as a school that that has an inclusive physical activity based programme, that marks an new era in physical activity. This programme is designed to recognize successful physical activity programmes that have been established in schools, as well as to motivate school communities to implement and maintain physical activity programmes. For more information about this programme, please visit the following website: http://www.ophea.net/Ophea/Ophea.net/ascongrats.cfm

In addition Mr. Costescu had the students participate in the Go Active! Olympic Fitness Challenge! As a result the school received a $600.00 phys-ed credit for making a commitment towards improved fitness and activity levels.