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Our team

The Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy IGEM team is a Canadian team hailing from Canmore Alberta, a small mountain town located 4296 feet above sea level, where it snows 11 months of the year and where bears, mountain goats, elk and other wildlife are common sights from our labs windows. Our principal regularly must chase elk off our field with a megaphone. This small Catholic school is home to just 70 high school students. Our team this year consists of five grade eleven students, one grade 10 student and two tired teachers. Five of our six team members are female, with 3 team members returning for the second year in a row. Our team is dynamic and is made up of brains, athletes, basket cases, princesses and “criminals”.

Student Team Members

	Alina Arvisais - She's beauty, she's grace, and she almost fell on her face while taking this picture. Apart from the fun with teammates, my favourite things about this project include learning just how much work science and computer work can be. Because of iGEM I've had plenty of opportunities to do this through lab work, reasearch, safety, creating a poster, working on the wiki, making a logo, and much much more. Apart from all that, I spend my time rock climbing and training for climbing competitions.
	Maria Buchko - I am a grade 11 student at Our Lady of the Snows. I dance, play lots of sports, and I spend a lot of my life on the internet, and reading pick-up lines. I wish I was Adenine so I could be paired with U. I joined iGem so that I could learn more about science because everyone needs lots of science in their life. Also for the experiences. iGem is a great opportunity to learn new and unique skills, along with being able to connect with many different people. As a Canadian, I can vouch for the fact that we ride moose to school (but only in the winter) and we drink maple syrup all day every day
	Talia Dixon Hello, my name is Talia Dixon, I am a grade 11 student at Our Lady Of The Snows Catholic Academy. I am born and raised in my small town of Canmore Alberta Canada. This is my second year participating in IGEM. My jobs in IGEM are poster, wiki, policies and practices, lab work, ethics, and our reach. My Other activities include debate, student council, social justice, hockey and hand ball. I love IGEM for so many reasons it has allowed me to learn more then I ever could have out of the curriculum has let me meet the most amazing people and grow close to the amazing people on my team.
	Joshua Lamb I am a grade 11 student who loves learning and applying Science to the real world. This is why I joined iGem, I love science. This year I am taking all of the Sciences this year in pursuit of the subject that i enjoy the most. I am also British and like to think that I have good fashion sense.
	Erika Maier My name is Erika Maier. I was born and raised in Canmore. I am 14 years old and in grade. THis makes me the youngest student in our iGEM team. My hobbies consist of sports ranging from volleyball to track and field, and basketball to handball. I am a nerd for math and enjoy reciting and memorizing digets of Pi.
	Freya Morgan I am a grade 10 student from Britain that moved from the Motherland in 2009. I’ve been to 7 different schools, in 3 different countries. I have not lost my Britishness as I drink tea and eat crumpets everyday while watching Doctor Who and reading Harry Potter. I do competitive dance, have participated in RAD Ballet exams, and tap dance everywhere. I joined iGem because Science is my favourite subject at school, (because it is super awesome) and that many opportunities can arise from this experience. I love iGem because it is really cool, getting to do really awesome lab work, and I can see what other people my age around the world are doing, as well as university students.

Teachers

Mr. Arvisais A project where you can think outside of the box … I mean textbook – fantastical ! Twenty plus years of high school and I have never heard of Synthetic Biology before this one. We began our journey to experience the definition of Synthetic Biology last December at our small school nestled in the Canadian Rockies. This project definitely helps to enrich our lives if we consider ourselves to be the sum total of our experiences. When I am not working at school, I dedicate much of my time to my two kids (say hello to my daughter above). There must always be time to play in the mountains too, so, get out there and DO something (awesome snow this March)!

Mrs. Puurunen I'm a mother, biology/special education teacher, technology enthusiast, semi-pro (read: recreational) mountain biker, and a general grumpypants. iGEM is like no other teaching and learning opportunity I've come across in a decade of work as an educator. I studied genetics and microbiology a mere ten years ago... And my how it's changed! A, T, C, G is the same, but that's about it..... Glad I have the students below to walk me through everything. Go team!

We would also like to thank our mentors: Dr. Magda Pop, Lisa Oberding, and Dan Ziemianowicz for all their help throughout the year. Without them, our iGEM experience would not have been this positive, and we certainly would not have learned as much.