Youth Council STEAM Exhibition
STEAM education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. STEAM takes STEM to the next level: it allows students to connect their learning with art practices, elements, design principles, and standards to provide the whole pallet of learning at their disposal.
The WISEST Youth Council created a STEAM art exhibition to showcase amazing STEAM projects designed by high school students across Alberta. In the 2024 exhibition, we had 8 hardworking participants that created projects ranging from a watercolour collage that demonstrated bacteriophages’ ability to kill bacteria to landscaping a spring renewal scenery to advocate for climate change.
The students showcased their projects in a virtual exhibition held in late April and the judges selected 3 winners whose projects are displayed below. Congratulations to everyone who participated!
Winner
"Growth Amidst the Darkness: Renewal and Recovery from Depression"
Sara Kam
Town: St. Paul, Alberta
High School: St. Paul Regional High School
Project Description: Depression, despite being one of the most common mental illnesses in the world, is often greatly misunderstood. Because of this, I decided to represent depression’s effect on the brain artistically as a way to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health. This brain is a direct rendition of what a depressed mind looks like on a PET scan: increased blues, followed by decreased whites and warm-toned colors, represent lowered brain activity. The contrasting colors of the flowers appear on the scan of a healthy brain, representing the resilience within the mind of someone with depression, just like how flowers thrive in adverse conditions. In conclusion, understanding and accepting mental illness as a legitimate health concern can dismantle the embarrassment around it, prompt earlier intervention, and ultimately save lives.
Runner-Up
“The Small Things, and the Big Picture”
Tanya Wang
City: Calgary, Alberta
High School: Dr. E. P. Scarlett
Project Description: For my project, I really wanted to embody the things I love about biology, so I made microbe art paintings out of bacteria I grew at home. At school, I never really take much personal interest in the things we learn, but in biology class, I always find myself genuinely engaged and interested in the topics that we cover. I especially really liked learning about the body systems and all of the millions of tiny things our bodies do every day just to go through our daily lives. So, for my project, I wanted to show how the small things can make up a beautiful bigger picture, hence the name, "The Small Things, and the Big Picture".
Runner-Up
“Strokes of Biochemical Brilliance: A Portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin”
Helena Atkinson
City: Beaumont, Alberta
High School: Ecole Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School
Project Description: My project is a portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin, world renowned chemist and first British woman to win a Nobel Prize. Using cabbage juice as a biochemical pH indicator mixed with an array of substances as my media in a “watercolour” style, I believe I captured my vast interests within chemistry, biology, and art; along with showcasing Dorothy and the advances she has made in the science community. Like Cyril Norman Hinshelwood said, “Chemistry: that most excellent child of intellect and art,” this quote represents to me the beauty and magic of chemistry that Dorothy, myself, and many others find so fascinating. I hope to spread the message that all women in STEM have the potential and deserve to be celebrated, especially if they are under credited or not as well known like Dorothy Hodgkin.