At the Kamloops School of the Arts (KSA) 2026 Science Fair on Monday, Feb. 23, the KSA Stars students leaned deeper into hands-on, student-led learning. The science became more than a showcase of experiments offering a moment for young creators to turn questions into colour, wonder and possibility.
Students presented projects that ranged from dissolving eggshells to exploring the solar system, cleaning pennies and testing how to make an egg float. Many students described feeling nervous at first and then gaining confidence as they worked through their experiments.
The teachers at KSA recorded results at the end of the event, and the school confirmed that the top ten per cent of projects will advance to the regional science fair.
Grade five teacher Terri Anne Wilson explains how creativity played a natural role at KSA, where students treated their boards as visual storytelling pieces while grounding everything in solid scientific thinking.
“I hope families see the depth of thinking behind each board and the confidence students gained through the process,” Wilson tells The Wren.
After a five-year absence, KSA teacher and organizer of the science fair Jonathon McCaugherty says he was inspired to bring the event back when he saw how eager elementary students were to explore science, especially during their visits to the high school labs. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The Wren
McCaughherty explains how he was happy to see how much the students cared about their projects, noting that “the kids really cared and were motivated, and the elementary teachers did an amazing job to spark interest and keep it burning.”
Addy Banks and Emerson McRae stand proudly with their project, Will The Egg‑cellent Bob Fit, which tested whether heating and then cooling the air inside a milk jar would create enough pressure change to pull an egg inside. The Grade 5 pair chose the experiment because it felt like a fun new idea and were surprised when it worked on their very first try. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenGrade 7 students Avalon Collins, Naia Azon Jacometti and Sora Elander with their science fair project on how a hot air balloon works. The students say they were most surprised to learn that hot air balloons cannot be steered and that many people don’t realize this. Photo contributed by Rhianna Azon JacomettiAvalon Collins, Naia Azon Jacometti and Sora Elander demonstrate how their hot air‑balloon model works during the KSA Science Fair. The group spent weeks experimenting with different materials and methods as they worked to understand how hot air balloons rise, eventually creating a model they could demonstrate again and again for an excited crowd. Their project involved plenty of trial and error, but also a lot of determination and teamwork as they brought their research to life. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The Wren
“As a parent, it was wonderful to watch this process from start to finish and to see these girls enjoy science in action,” Rhianna Azon Jacometti, tells The Wren.
Hazel Horesy with her project exploring what colour people associate with each month of the year. She hypothesized that winter months would lean toward cooler tones, spring toward lighter colours, summer toward warm brights and fall toward neutrals and orange hues. After creating a Google survey and collecting responses from students, she charted the results in pie graphs and was pleased to see her hypothesis proven correct. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenAislynn Johnstone, a Grade 5 student, sits with her project How to Make an Egg Float. She was excited to take part in the science fair and surprised by how much work went into her experiment. After discovering a new love for science, Aislynn says she hopes to keep learning, make it to regionals one day or maybe even achieve a scientific breakthrough, naming Albert Einstein as one of her idols. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenPaisley Ogden with her project, The Sun and Our Solar System, inspired by her curiosity about how long it will take for the sun to run out of energy. She learned that scientists study sound waves and vibrations inside the sun to understand its internal structure, confirming that the core is slowly running out of fuel. Her research showed that the sun is expected to fully exhaust its energy in roughly 5–10 billion years. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenIyla Pearse, a Grade 5 student with her project EGG‑Cellent Science, where she tested which substances dissolve an eggshell the fastest. She was especially surprised by how much the orange juice dissolved the shell, far more than she expected. Iyla also brought an egg that’s shell had been fully dissolved in vinegar for visitors to hold, helping them see the results up close. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenGreyson Owens and Moddox Lund, two Grade 5 students beside their project Gummy Bear Osmosis. The best friends came up with the idea while researching different experiments and decided to team up, spending weeks testing gummy bears in various solutions in their home kitchens. Their goal was to see how water moved across the gummy bears’ membranes and how different ingredients would change them. They found that salt water shrank and hardened the gummy bears, sugar water made them float and begin to break down and plain water eventually dissolved them completely. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The WrenZendaya Kotle beside her Cleaning Pennies project, which tested which household solutions clean pennies the best, while her classmate and friend Audrey Zuidema photobombs with a burst of fun and laughter. Zendaya said she thought it was really cool that the school held a science fair this year and was excited to enter. Photo by Rebecca Owens / The Wren
Looking ahead, a number of students say they’re already preparing for next year.
After this year’s success, McCaugherty tells The Wren KSA will run the science fair every year, with the hope it instills the love of science and engineering into the students.
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Rebecca was born and raised in beautiful Kamloops, British Columbia. She is a mother to four amazing children who are her pride and joy. With a passion for writing and a natural sense of curiosity, Rebecca enjoys focusing on stories about local community events, arts and culture and politics. In her off time, you can find her at home with her children and dogs or embracing the beauty of the great outdoors our beautiful city has to offer.
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