International science fair winner from Sarnia receives another honor

Sarnia’s Annabelle Rayson, an award-winning science fair competitor, has received a new honour.

The recent graduate of St. Patrick’s Catholic High School who was awarded the Stockholm Junior Water Prize in the Swedish capital last year for a science project that also won the Canada-Wide Science Fair, recently received the 2023 AW Campbell Memorial Scholarship from the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority.

“I deeply love and respect this organization, so much,” Rayson said. “Their team and people are so wonderful. I’m incredible honoured.”

“Jessica Van Zwol, their healthy watershed specialist, was a mentor to me in one of my science fair projects,” and the authority connected her to a professor in Guelph for another of her projects, she said.

The latest scholarship comes after Rayson attended the 2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Dallas in May and placed fourth in the environment category while also receiving a special CAST (China Association for Science and Technology) award given to projects best reflecting originality and innovation of the students’ work in all scientific disciplines.

The same year Rayson traveled to Stockholm and received her prize from a member of the Swedish royal family, she went to the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Lieden, Netherlands where she placed third with her project, Plankton Wars: An Innovative Analysis of Daphnia Genotype Biomanipulation for Algae Bloom Prevention, researched how to treat and prevent harmful algae blooms.

“I’ve been doing science fair since I was eight years old and my dream and goal was always just to go the Canada-Wide Science Fair,” she said.

“Being able to represent Canada internationally has just been beyond surreal.”

Rayson carried the Canadian flag during ceremonies at three different international events.

“I got to see some incredible countries but more importantly I’ve met the most wonderful, kind and brilliant people who are so dedicated and passionate about using their talents to improve the world,” she said.

Rayson was named to the Sarnia Mayor’s Honor List in 2022 for her organizing the Sarnia Shoebox Project which fills boxes with personal care items for women in need and distributes them through local agencies.

The project delivered about 2,000 boxes over five years.

This fall, Rayson will attend Harvard to study environmental sciences and engineering.

“I’m excited to go and travel, and experience new things in a different part of the world,” she said.

Rayson said she plans to continue her research in water science “but I’m also hoping with university to gain exposure to new areas,” including “statistics and public policy.”

“I love to try new things and broaden my horizon,” she said. “I’m not fully sure where I’m going yet but I definitely know that science and environment will be part of it.”

Rayson was also offered scholarships to the University of Guelph, McMaster University and Western University.

“It was a tough decision because I’m very much a homebody,” she said about selecting Harvard in Massachusetts.

“I kind of applied to the states on a whim” after being encouraged by friend Krish Modi, a fellow team member at the Dallas competition, Rayson said.

“I never expected to get in,” she said.

“It took a few months of deliberation and talking with friends and family, and I decided to give it a go and try, because how can you pass something like that up?”

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