Team:Consort Alberta/team

   Alex Coulton          Austin Wiltse           Cole Sansregret           Kris Glasier           Nikayla Goddard       Sage Strobel         Samantha Davies        Spencer Degenstein       Gerry Bourassa

            Alex Coulton

I'm a grade ten student at Consort School who only has to take a dogsled to school once and a while. My interest in science and the future of technology has always been an entertaining hobby because of its diversity, experimentation, and possibility to change society, along with creating life. My hobbies include carpentry, metalwork, gaming, experimenting and creating anything I can make a blueprint for. Although I don't know for sure what I want to do after high school I want to stay involved in the world of technology and science, hopefully continuing on with my crazy creating. After secondary school I hope to travel to New Zealand, Australia, and Europe for work so I can get to know the culture of another country and become a part of its community.

    Austin Wiltse

My name is Austin Wiltse, and I joined my High School's iGEM team because I enjoy Science in school. IGEM seemed like an incredible opportunity to learn even more about Science, and to meet new people in the process. As for my activities after school, I have part time employment at the local grocery store, I curl on Fridays with the school's curling team, and on Wednesday with my Dad and his friends. During the summer, I bike and swim, and take first aid courses through my swimming lessons, Bronze Cross and Bronze Medallion. For hobbies, I enjoy playing video games, and programming mobile games for iDevices. What I consider my best achievements are passing my Bronze Medallion and learning a programming language. After school, my plan is to apply to a technical institute and enrol in a video game design course. After that, I hope to apply to work at Treyarch Studios in Santa Monica, United States.

    Cole Sansregret

I am fifteen years old, born and raised here in Consort. I am a caring, kind, and unique individual who has a humorous and likable character. I love to question how the world works, and I want to know every small detail about everything. I spend my spare time reading, playing basketball, and reffing hockey. I have always loved science, and when I first learned about cells and DNA, I wanted to know more about it and become more involved. So, when I heard about iGEM, I immediately wanted to join, and I now have the pleasure of being involved in this amazing competition. I want to learn more about synthetic biology and DNA, but I also want to create memories and have fun. I do not have a solid plan of what I shall do when I finish high school, but, I hope that if I truly love this experience with synthetic biology, I can turn to it as a career.Canadian Myth: Contrary to popular belief, we do have electricity in our igloos. How else would we warm our bacon?

        Kris Glasier

I am currently attending my twelfth year in Consort School and my second year in the high school competition. I started for many reasons in which I can no longer remember, but they've now been transformed by my interests of today. Striving to take an engineering course at University of Alberta, my academic interests are mainly the maths and sciences. My minimal skill in the arts, such as English, make writing rather difficult at times. The diversity of iGEM has made it possible for every kind of character to come into play, making it a prime place for an aspiring engineer to visit and build connections. Some of my interests involve archery and other medieval-style combat to reading and the occasional video game. I also enjoy seeing how nature works as a whole- the patterns clouds make churning in the sky, to the currently unstoppable force of hurricanes, tornadoes, or even simple thunder storm or the minute gusts of wind. My taste in music has broadened over the years- from strictly rock to rock, metal, country, pop, and so forth including all but most rap songs. Overall Canadians don't particularly like winter, but we endure it for as long as we can. Only the rare few actually prefer the cold over the heat.

        Nikayla Goddard

I’m a student attending Consort School, in Grade 10. I joined the Consort iGEM team because I believe it’s a great opportunity for any student, and has many aspects so that anyone could find something they love about the idea. My future formerly included wanting to become an astrophysicist / astronomer, particularly studying relativity and mechanics, but I have changed to pursue journalism instead, hoping to incorporate science into the writing and creativity aspect and specialize in science and technical articles. I work at the local newspaper, the Consort Enterprise, for over two years, and I’ve been able to develop some experience with basic Photoshop and photography techniques both business / newspaper-like and creative photos as a hobby. I enjoy art of all kinds, including drawing pictures of my favorite book and movie characters, and my friends, and painting a variety of pictures. As a part of the local Creative Hands 4-H group I also act, and have played both minor and major characters. My favorite Canadian stereotype is that people think we say eh a lot… I don’t think so, eh? I love reading fantasy books, watching thunderstorms, listening to music, watching movies such as the Avengers, Thor, and X-Men, writing stories and articles for the Enterprise, playing Scrabble, and having a good time with my friends.

Sage Strobel

Hello! My name is Kali Sage Strobel, and I have a passion for all things biology. My role on my IGEM team is essentially to be involved with everything. Though I particularly enjoy lab work, I'm heavily involved with the human practices portion of our project as well. Knowing that our project is important to our community and its industries makes iGEM an even better experience - I love how we can give back to the community that raised us while having a great time and learning lots. At school, I'm proud to play an integral role on both the High School Students' Union and the Grad Executive Committee. When I'm not studying or working on iGEM related projects, I'm typically found escaping reality through reading or writing. Other activities I enjoy outside of my school work include horseback riding, traveling, jogging and hiking. I absolutely love spending time outdoors and having the opportunity to try new things. A few of my favorite journeys have taken me to Egypt, Greece, Italy, and (of course) Disneyland. In the future, I see myself working either as a researcher, a doctor, or a lawyer. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll be in school for a really long time. Favorite Canadian Myth/Fact: Canadians put more miles on their snowblower than their car. Fact: I do not canoe to work, and I only drink maple syrup in my coffee on Mondays and Wednesdays. :)

                Samantha Davies

I joined our high school iGEM team because both Science and Math fascinate me and it seemed like a great opportunity to learn about lab work, potential careers and synthetic biology. Some of my favourite books include Handel with Care by Jodi Picoult, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. My favourite movies include Gladiator, The Count of Monte Cristo, Star Trek and Lord of The Rings. Other than iGEM I also enjoy dance, band and hanging out with friends.  I love living in Canada for many reasons although my favourite part is when, upon learning what country I live in, people immediately ask me if I know their third cousin once removed who lives in Toronto. Do you think I know cousin Johnny??? I'm over three thousand kilometres away and there are over 33 million people in the country!!

Spencer Degenstein

I'm currently in grade 12 going to Consort School. After high school, I'm planning on going to University, but am still unsure as to what I will be going into. I joined iGem after my teacher told me about it, and how it was an excellent opportunity to explore a new field, and to see if it might interest me, and possibly persuade me to pursue it in my future. I am already finding iGem to be very interesting and if indeed I do go into a career relating to this, I can use my role in iGem as experience. I am mainly working on the wet lab as well as designing our biobrick, and researching xylene, along with xylR. Also, having the chance to see these things in action really helps with learning the material we are going over in Biology 30. Some of my interests include: shooting, hunting, hanging out with friends and family, and iGem.

Gerry Bourassa

Science has always been a passion of mine and I love learning about it and sharing that information with others. I learned about the iGEM competition and synthetic biology at our science teachers' conference and couldn’t wait to tell my students about it. The potential of this field of study is amazing! It is also a lot more difficult in practice than it is in theory. When I’m not in school I enjoy travelling, skiing and restoring my motorcycle.