Sadie Curtis Primary School students Allayne Green, Jayden Ferguson and A'ryanna Wilson have brought a sense of pride to their school's Nassau Village campus after snagging the school's first victory in the sixth year of the annual National Science Talk Competition.
Led by their coach, Lakia Brown, the fourth grade students dominated the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) competition that has been developed for fourth grade students, and is based on grades three and four revised primary science curriculum guidelines. The competition was held under the theme "Science is Everywhere".
The competition's objectives are to strengthen oral communication as students engage in activities involving the understanding of the nature and practice of science; enhance science literacy; and keep students engaged in learning and developing their potential to become 21st century stewards, innovators and citizens.
"They did a tremendous job, and won in a landslide. They were right on point, and knew practically everything that was asked of them," said Brown.
Students were given three strands of science to study -- life science, physical science and chemical science. Teams competed in their respective MoEST districts with the winners meeting to battle for the national title. Green, Ferguson and Wilson crushed the southeastern district to advance to the national competition where they dominated again.
At the nationals, students chose random questions and were given one minute to give as much accurate information on the topic as they could.
The life science questions dealt with plants and animals; the physical science section dealt with the earth, weather and the atmosphere; and the chemical science portion dealt with chemistry.
Garvin Tynes Primary School recorded a second place finish, with Albury Sayle Primary School third and Columbus Primary School fourth.
The two girls and boy on the Sadie Curtis squad began to prepare for the competition in October 2016. Brown said they practiced daily during their lunch period, after school and even on some Saturdays.
"They knew everything in the book, because they put in the time. Whenever everyone else was outside playing, they were there with their food wanting to practice and to prepare."
Brown said she had no doubts that the squad would go all the way.
"I knew from the district [competition] that they were going to nationals, because you kind of size up the competition and the kids were really prepared. I did not doubt them. I knew that they were going to come out victorious," she said.
The one thing Brown hoped her students learned from the experience was that, if they work hard, anything would be possible.
"There's nothing that they cannot achieve once they put God first and they work hard towards it," she said.
The teacher, who has a bachelor's degree in biology, said science competitions of this nature are important because they help to steer the children into the science arena.
"Sometimes we focus so much on high school with sciences, but this type of competition helps to steer children into that whole area of science because most of them you find want to become doctors. And to be honest with you, there are only a few schools in the government system that have a science specialist. So a school like Sadie Curtis, where they have a one-on-one science teacher, this kind of propels them and gets them more focused into the areas they want to study in the area of science in the future."
Along with bragging rights, the students each received a $200 gift certificate from Hodder Education to use toward purchasing an electronic device of their choosing. Brown received a Custom Computers certificate.
While this is Brown's first national title, she's no stranger to having her squads put in a good showing at the science competition. Before being transferred to Sadie Curtis for this academic year, she taught at Cleveland Eneas Primary School, where she coached squads to three district wins. The national title had always eluded her, with teams placing second and third.
But this first national title win, she said, is special to her.
"It really gives me hope to know that once the kids have the determination and support system, that they can do tremendous work. With the parents' help and my coaching and speaking into them, and encouraging them ... because sometimes they got discouraged ... I said we have to see the end before the result, so let's just keep the end in mind. Winning motivates me to continue for the future ... to push more students into this area of science," she added.
She also said the road to victory hasn't been easy, but the zeal and commitment of her students, and God's guidance, brought them through.
Brown also gave kudos to science officer Barbara Dorsett, who captured the vision of the competition and ran with it.
"It's inspiring many students around the country to want to be a part of it," said Brown.

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