This story originally appeared in Youth Science Canada’s 2024 Annual Report.

“Pick a topic that fascinates you and start asking questions.” This simple yet powerful advice from Patrick Whippey encapsulates the spirit that has driven his remarkable five-decade journey with STEM fairs in Canada.

A Physics professor at Western University for 43 years, Patrick’s involvement with STEM fairs began in 1971 when he attended his first London District Science & Technology Fair. “I was hooked,” he recalls, remembering a student’s ambitious rocket project. What started as curiosity soon became a lifelong commitment to nurturing young scientific minds.

For Patrick, STEM fairs offer something unique: hands-on exploration and recognition, which is often only reserved for sports. This recognition, he observed, could be life-changing. “Some would never have pursued science or engineering without the STEM fair experience,” he notes, citing Andy Hrymak, former Dean of Engineering at Western, who credited the Bay Area Science Fair for sparking his career.

Over the decades, Patrick has played many roles in the STEM fair community. He chaired the National Ethics & Safety Committee since its inception, served as National Judge in Chief, and led the Team Canada-ISEF selection process from 1995 to 2024, helping 343 students represent Canada at the “Olympics of the Science Fair world.”

His eyes light up when recalling standout projects. He proudly speaks of Danish Mahmood, who, as a Grade 8 student, created a Wireless Interconnected Non-Invasive Triage System, winning the Junior Platinum Award in 2017 and first place at EUCYS in 2018. “He was doing an MSc-level project in Grade 8!” Or Chen Sun, who went from STEM fair success to an Oxford Blyth Scholarship, a PhD at MIT with a Nobel Laureate, and now works on AI at Google.

Looking ahead, Patrick is excited by how technology is making STEM fairs more accessible. “The Internet allows a student from Thompson, Manitoba, to access the same knowledge as one from Vancouver.” When asked what keeps him passionate, he jokes, “I’m a slow learner – I’ve almost figured out how science fairs work, but not quite.”

As STEM fairs evolve, Patrick’s advice to young scientists remains the same: embrace curiosity, don’t fear failure, and know that the next generation “will be smarter than my generation.” Given his impact over 50 years, that’s saying something.