NIHERST and NGC wish to congratulate all the students who participated in the 2012 Science Whizz Competition, especially those students who made it all the way through to the final round. We celebrated your accomplishments on Saturday 23rd February, 2012 at the National Science Centre.

The NIHERST/NGC Science Whizz Competition 2012 got started early in January 2012 and attracted 149 students from 17 different schools across the country, including Tobago. At briefing sessions, students were given details about the competition and tips on how to tackle their projects for each category of the competition: Illustrate!, Innovate!, and Investigate. Contestant were grouped by ages, with students between the ages of 12 - 14 comprising the Junior grouping and students, 15 - 18 years of age, qualifying for the Senior grouping.

Students participating in the Illustrate! category were required to combine theatre arts with science education. Given a list of topics that included Global Warming and Me and Mathematics in Everyday Life, students were required to create and execute a 7 - 10 minute performance that would highlight the scientific content of the topic chosen. With the Innovate! category, students at the junior level got exposure to civil engineering with bridge construction while senior students tackled renewable energy sources with wind turbine design. Students in both age groups of the Investigate! category determined which temperature conditions were best suited to grow large and pure crystals.

During the course of the year, students endured preliminary and semi-final rounds of the competition, where at each round, hopeful students improved on their projects. Twenty-eight (28) students survived the battle, making it to the final round of competition, which was held on Saturday December 8th, 2012.

NIHERST and NGC cherish the engagement of our youth in science, technology and innovation as it is opens doors to your advancements as well as it is vital for the progress of our nation. We hope that this engagement will be life-long and that you will participate in other youth science initiatives offered by NIHERST.