'I literally started crying': Winnipeg student wins prize in national science contest

AyezaShehzad, 12, couldn't believe it when she heard that she'd won a prize in the national Abdus Salam Science Fair.

"As soon as I heard my name, I couldn't believe it," said Ayeza, who was watching the awards ceremony on TV with her family when she found out on the weekend."I literally started crying with happy tears."

Ayeza, who goes to Winnipeg's Henry G. Izzat Middle School, won second place in the Grade 5-8 girls category and $200for her project about the science behind tsunamis and how water depth affects wave velocity.

Nabeel Rana, coordinator of the Abdus SalamScience Fair, said the contestreceived more than 100 submissions from students across Canada, including six from Manitoba.

The annual contest, based in Vaughan, about 40 km north of Toronto, is open to all students in Canada. It started 14 years ago in orderto encourage students from marginalized backgrounds to take part in science and contribute to society.

For Ayeza,it was a great chance to delve intoa subject that she finds fascinating.

"I've actually been wanting to do a project on tsunamis for quite a while, and when I heard about the science fair, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to get into it," said Ayeza, who entered the contest with a video of her project.

Tsunamis"just seemed cool, like how they impact places after they're gone," she said. "It's just mind blowing."

The seventh grader hypothesized that the deeper the water, the faster the wave velocity would be. She tested her guess with a rubber tub of water, representing the waves, and a block of wood, representing an asteroid and it turns out, she was correct.

"That's also another reason why tsunamis can move as fast as a jet plane and can cross entire oceans in less than a day," Ayezasaid.

Proud parents

Ayeza's father, Khuram Shehzad, said he encouraged his daughters Ayeza and her older sister Atya-Tul-Qudus Saleh to participate in the Abdus Salam contest because they both get high marks in math and science.

Khuram works at the Magellan Aerospace company and his wife, Uzma Shehzad, is a science student with two degrees: a masters in environmental science and a master of philosophy in botany.

"Science has always been part of our life one way or the other because my wife is someone who belongs to science," Khuram said.

He said they only intendedto encourage theirdaughters to participate in the contest, so it was a big surprise when they found out that Ayeza won.

"It was kind of unbelievable that was something which really made us happy and we are very proud of it," he said.

Contest hosted in Nobel laureate's name

The science fair is organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in honour of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979.

"Abdul Salam was the first Muslim Nobel laureate," Rana said. "He is a household name in the community and so that's why we used his legacy to inspire young students."

"They need to understand that these science fairs are not only fulfilling their immediate fun, but in the future, can build great products and great services to humanity," Ranasaid.

Typically the event is held in-person in Ontario, but because of the pandemic,it's movedonline and the organizers were able to open it up to students from all provinces and territories.

The categories are split between different age groups: Grade 5 to 8 and Grade 9 to 12. They're also split between boys and girls because of Islamic tradition, said Rana.

"Some traditions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is that when the event is held in person, boys and girls are typically segregated into different groups," he said. "So some traditions of the community need to be followed."

Rana said there were two dozen judges who are scholars in science and technology and each evaluated projects that were related to their field of expertise.

Eyes on engineering, medicine

Ayeza plans touse the prize moneyto buy books.

She said she'll continue to pursue math and science, with the hopes of one day becoming a doctor or engineer.

"My favourite subject is math and then science comes after it," she said.

"But for my project, I decided to combine both of those things together and that helped me create a really interesting project and I really loved creating it."

Winnipeg student wins prize in national science contest

3 years ago

Duration 2:04

Ayeza Shehzad, who goes to Winnipeg's Henry G. Izzat Middle School, won second place in the Grade 5-8 girls category and $200 for her project about the science behind tsunamis and how water depth affects wave velocity.