HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
STM gets brains buzzing with Brain Bee competition: School's first ever neuroscience competition

A Brain Bee at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School was the latest buzz as 15 of the school's brightest took part in the school's first ever neuroscience competition.

Founded by Grade 12 student Adriana Bozzo, the idea was to create opportunities to explore science beyond the standard curriculum.

With the help of teacher Advisor Rebecca Newberry, Bozzo formed the club MORE Neuroscience in 2020.

"Mrs. Newberry has gone above and beyond to foster our student's love of learning. We couldn't ask for a better teacher advisor."

A highlight of the club is participating in the annual Brain Bee, hosted at McMaster University.

The Brain Bee is an annual neuroscience competition for high school students, explained Bozzo.

"This is a competition that tests student's knowledge on topics related to the brain, such as sleep, stress, intelligence, aging, and brain diseases."

"There are local Brain Bees across all Canadian provinces. Winners from the local Brain Bees participate in The Canadian National Brain Bee and the winner of that competes internationally. This year, the international competition is being hosted in Paris, France."

"It's a big deal."

Thanks to the support generated by the club this year, MORE Neuroscience decided to not only partake in McMaster's Brain Bee, but also host its own at the school.

Participating students were given 40 minutes to complete 30 multiple choice and 10 fill in the blank neuroscience questions, with the top five highest scorers advanced to the final showdown.

Coming out victorious were grade 11 student Claire Daly, placing third, grade 10 student Aliyah Lopes, placing second, and grade 9 student Briana Carciumaru placing first and securing the title of STM's First Brain Bee Champion.

In addition to the competition, STM invited Dr. Dawn Bowdish, an Associate Professor at McMaster University, and a Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity to deliver a keynote address.

"In 2005, she won the Cangene Gold Award for the best PhD thesis in Microbiology and began her own lab the in 2009," explained Bozzo. "Her presentation, COVID information and misinformation - lessons learned from a scientist turned science communicator,' enlightened and educated our students on topics including vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, COVID and other vaccinations."

"This was STM's first Brain Bee but seeing how successful this event was we hope to make it an annual tradition!"