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2008 Competition
We have a Winner for 2008!
A Difficult Decision by the Winner of the 2008 Newfoundland and Labrador ‘Brain Storm’ Competition
The top prize was a chance to go to the 1st Canadian National Brain Bee competition to be held at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario on May 10, 2008. Melissa Duff of Holy Spirit High School in Manuels, Newfoundland outlasted 22 other competitors through 3 stages and several rounds of questions to answer the final question ‘During digestion, what hormone is released from the stomach to suppress hunger? It is also found in the brain. The answer: cholecystokinin. The other two finalists, Robbie Butt (Basque Memorial HS in Red Bay, Labrador) and Jonathan Mong (Holy Heart HS, St. John’s) could not recall the answer. However, high school life is never straightforward. ‘Grad night’, an event that caps off many years of schooling for Melissa and many students, is also scheduled May 10 so she was compelled to decline the trip to Hamilton. Second place winner Robbie Butt will now face the challenge and prestige of representing Newfoundland & Labrador at the national competition. Preparation for the national event will necessitate Robbie honing his ‘brain’ skills by distance learning since he lives very far from the St. John’s campus. Robbie is used to such learning methods as he has taken distance courses from teacher Michael Sceviour who encouraged him to join in the Brain Storm competition in the first place.
The Newfoundland Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience has been hosting the ‘Brain Storm’ competition for high school students since 2000. The competitors were invited following an ‘in school’ preliminary competition of multiple choice questions based on a 60 page ‘Brain Facts’ booklet. Forty four students from 11 schools on the Avalon Peninsula, Grand Falls-Windsor and Labrador participated in that segment in early January. This year the St. John’s competition, held in the auditorium of the medical school at Memorial University on Saturday, Feb. 16, began with a 6 round first stage that was followed by a break that included visits to 3 research labs and a luncheon. After the break, the top 7 remaining students used their ‘visual’ memory to answer questions, shown by power point, about such topics as drug effects on the brain and brain pathways. This led to the final 3 show-down. Special guests, Pam Anstey from Epilepsy NL and Christina Dove, Autism Society, asked the questions and graduate students from the Neuroscience group at the Faculty of Medicine gathered a wide assortment of prizes for all participants. Neuroscientist John McLean coordinated the event.
Click here for details of all Final placements in the 2008 competition
Click here for details of the Preliminary 'In School' Results for the 2008 competition
Major sponsors included: Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addictions (CIHR), WestJet, and a Synapse Award to Dr. McLean.
Local companies that graciously contributed prizes included: Hair Factory, Signature Salon, Dove Pottery, Sobeys, A & W, Allan's Video, Big Bite Pizza, Student Recruitment at Memorial University. Other prizes included several books by Oliver Sacks, Norman Doidge and 'Brain' Pottery by Christina Dove.
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'Brain' coffee cup prize provided by Dove Pottery
'Brain' pendant prize by Dove Pottery http://www.dovepottery.ca/index.php
Several books by Oliver Sacks & Norman Doidge were
given to students as prizes.
2008 FINAL COMPETITION IN ST. JOHN'S
THINGS ARE SET TO GO FOR THE COMPETITION SATURDAY, FEB. 16. LOTS OF COOL PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED AND A LUNCHEON WILL BE SERVED. COMPETITION BEGINS AT 10:00 am. COMPETITORS SHOULD ARRIVE BY 9:45 am.
We have now contacted those traveling from a distance concerning travel plans and accommodations.
The main Newfoundland/Labrador competition will be held in St. John's at the MUN Medical School, set for Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008. Storm postponement would be Sunday, Feb. 17.
We will provide a modest subsidy reimbursement to help defray travel costs for those contestants who travel to St. John’s from some distance away.
PLEASE GO TO 'CONTEST GUIDELINES' to the left for information about the setup of the final contest. Use the 'Medical School Location' hyperlink to find out how to get to the medical school and its auditorium. Please be there by 9:30 am.
The winner of this competition (and 1 chaperone) will be eligible to attend the FIRST Canadian Brain Bee (CBB) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario tentatively scheduled for May 10, 2008. WestJet has generously donated two return airline tickets for the flight to Hamilton. The winner of the CBB competition will go to the International Brain Bee (IBB) in May in Montreal.
John McLean, Ph.D., coordinator
Newfoundland & Labrador Brain Storm competition
Our Feb. 2007 Competition
Congratulations to Louanne Crocker, Carbonear Collegiate, who won a tough contest between 28 competitors from 14 provincial schools. We were fortunate to have excellent weather to allow competitors from Labrador City, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Lewisporte, Eastport, Grand Bank, St. Mary's, Marystown, Carbonear, Bell Island and local St. John's/Mt. Pearl area schools to attend the Feb. 17, 2007 event. The competition was hosted by faculty and neuroscience graduate students from the Faculty of Medicine and Dept. of Psychology at MUN.
For the first time since we began holding our local competitions in 2000, we were able to secure funding to send the winner to Baltimore for the International Brain Bee (IBB). Louanne Crocker reported that she had a wonderful experience at the IBB competition March 16 & 17, 2007. She competed against 32 other representatives from other local brain bees in the United States (27), Canada (3), Australia (1) and India (1). Some competitors were able to prepare many months for the IBB with tutors. Congratulations to Louanne for placing 16th. Thank you to Dr. Norbert Myslinski and colleagues for organizing such a successful and worthwhile event.
Prizes were provided to all competitors in our local Brain Storm competition. Major sponsors for the event included MUN Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addictions (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) and Janssen Ortho, Inc. We are also grateful to a number of local companies for donations including (in alphabetical order):
Allan's video, Dove Pottery, The Hair Factory, Jungle Jims, The Keg Restaurant, MUN Recruitment Office, Quintana's Restaurant, Pier 17/Papas, Pizza Experts, Shoppers Drug Mart, Sobey's, and Take the Plunge.
The Brain Storm contest was covered by NTV news, 'Out of the Fog' program on Rogers Cable, VOCM radio and the Telegram newspaper.
2007 Brain Storm winner and organizers.
Pictured above are some members of the organizing team including (front row) Stephanie Hancock & Jared Clarke, L-R Tara Deemyad, Matt Grimes, Krista Hewlett, Kris Langdon, Louanne Crocker (1st place), Melissa Christie-Fougere, Dr. James Rourke (Dean of Medicine), & Dr. John McLean. Missing: Doreen MacNeil, Yudan Liu, Dr. Xihua Chen.