Registration is open – please follow link to Google Form to register for the 2025 Halifax Brain Bee. Registrants will be acknowledged within a week and provided with more information after they register.
Date: March 10th 2025
Note: The Brain Bee embraces the principle that science is for everyone. All students in grades 9-12, regardless of their neuroscience background or preparation, are encouraged to participate in the Brain Bee. The Brain Bee is not just a test; it is an opportunity for high school students to visit Dalhousie University, and the Brain Repair Centre; to interact with university students, staff and faculty, and be exposed to neuroscience research. The Brain Bee runs on volunteer hours and donor funding, and no-shows come at a cost to the organizing university. If you happen to register but cannot attend, please email your local Brain Bee in advance to let them know of your withdrawal from the competition. Thanks
Nova Scotians, please note there will be a Brain Bee at St FX (Antigonish) this year too! Reach out to antigonish@brainbee.ca with any questions.
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2024 Halifax Brain Bee winners
Congratulations to Paige Klassen, Charles P. Allen High School and runner-up: Avalon Lively, Lockview High School Paige went on to represent Halifax in the National Brain Bee held in May 2024. She graduated (High School) in June 2024 and we hope to catch up with her in the Fall and find out what she is up to! Avalon is heading into grade 11, so we hope to see her again at the 2025 competition.
1st Place: Shabad Kaur, Halifax West High School 2nd Place: Reema Abelghani, Charles P. Allen High School 3rd Place: Anna MacDonald, Lockview High School
2023 Winner Shabad Kaur represented Halifax at the National Brain Bee and was interviewed for Dalhousie and Brain Repair Centre afterwards. She says she “is grateful for the incredible opportunity she had to compete, and for the chance to tour McMaster’s psychology and neuroscience research centre.” Read the full interview with Shabad at https://www.brainrepair.ca/news/buzzing-about-the-brain
Where are they now?
Shabad is at Dalhousie in the first year of a BSc in the Dalhousie Integrated Science Program (DISP) and she plans to major in Neuroscience. It’s wonderful to hear that the Brain Bee had a transformative impact on Shabad and played a crucial role in determining her education path.
Reema is in Grade 12 at Charles P Allen this year and is running the school’s Neuroscience Club.
Anna graduated from Lockview High School in 2023 and is now at Mount Saint Vincent University, studying for a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience.
Canadian National Brain Bee
In the winner’s own words: 2022 Brain Bee Winner Alyanna Delos Reyes
The Brain Bee was a very wonderful experience and one of the moments that I will surely remember. When my name was announced as the winner, I couldn’t really believe it. I was really happy since all of the studying paid off and it was really rewarding. I had more dopamine release that time since the reward was very unexpected. When it was done, that is when I really felt it. Everyone was congratulating and appreciating each other, everyone was saying all good things about each other. Other participants congratulated me and we got to talk about the contest and just said how we were all proud of everyone for doing well in the competition.
The Brain Bee was an awesome experience for all the students and it is such a great opportunity to meet and communicate with other teens that share great interest in neuroscience. It is such a great opportunity for learning and a one of a kind experience for me. It is surely a win to remember. I am very grateful that the brain bee this year is in person and I hope it stays that way in the future years since it gives us the full experience of meeting future neuroscientists. And the best part for me during the lab tours was that I had a chance to hold and touch a human brain. It was fascinating to see an actual human brain and see all of the parts that I was just learning about.
I am very grateful to all the staff and volunteers that help coordinate this very competition and I hope that more students will participate and know about the Brain Bee because it is such a wonderful experience that I hope a lot of students will experience. To the coordinators and everyone that helped to make this competition possible, I am very thankful and I want you to know that you gave a lot of us a very wonderful experience to remember.
Brain Bee 2022winner
Congratulations to the winner of the 2022 Halifax Brain Bee, Alyanna Relos Reyes. Alyanna is a grade 10 student from Lockview High School.
Along with 11 other students from around the province, Alyanna came to the Brain Repair Centre to compete in the annual Brain Bee, where they got to see first-hand what neuroscience research looks like and getting to meet trainees and the BRC team.
Alyanna will go on to compete in the national Brain Bee, a two-day competition on May 27 and 28.
Left to right: 3rd place winner Linda Jin, 2nd place winner Shabad Kaur, 1st place winner Alyanna Delos Reyes
The runner-ups of the competition are grade 11 student Shabad Kaur from Halifax West in second, and grade 11 student Linda Jin from King’s-Edgehill in third.
Competing in the 2021 Halifax Brain Bee has been an insightful and enjoyable experience. Even though the Brain Bee did not take place in person, I had a lot of fun participating in the virtual activities and presentations organized by several Canadian universities.
It was truly amazing to be able to meet and connect with other neuroscience enthusiasts from across the country! Watching the other competitors, university students, and professors discuss various topics in neuroscience research was fascinating and confirmed my own interest in the field. In fact, I will be attending Dalhousie University this fall and I hope to major in Neuroscience! I am so glad to have learned all that I have about the brain and the nervous system while preparing for the Brain Bee and even during the program.
Lastly, I am extremely grateful to Dr. Judith Shedden, Dr. Nikol Piskuric, Dr. William Baldridge, Eleanor Seaman-Bolton, and all of the organizers, students, and faculty for making it possible to join such an inspiring competition.
Brain Bee 2021
Due to Covid restrictions, the 2021 competition was conducted online on Friday June 4th. Winners of the local Brain Bees will competed the following day – Saturday June 5th.
Halifax Brain Bee 2012
Left to right: Jessica McGrath, second place winner of the Dalhousie Brain Bee 2012, Elayne Tan, first place winner of the Dalhouise Brain Bee 2011, current Dalhousie Science Undergraduate student, Amrit Sampalli, first place winner of the Dalhousie Brain Bee 2012.
