Joey Pastorek of Clearwater Secondary tied for third overall in Chemistry 11 during the recent Thompson Rivers University High School Chemistry Contests. Leah Hamill of Sa-Hali Secondary tied with him for third overall and the two were tied for the top spot in School District 73. Pastorek’s teacher is Mike Lau.
Held May 16, the 16th annual contest-a written test of knowledge and open to all Grade 11 and 12 chemistry students in B.C - attracted a total of 2,007 students from 75 different B.C. schools. Of that number, 1,421 were in Chemistry 11 and 586 were in Chemistry 12. A total of 141 students from SD73 and 13 from SD27 participated.
In Chemistry 11 Honours, Jesse Mohr tied for first overall, Keegan Richter tied for second overall, and Tye Desrosiers tied for third overall. The three are students at South Kamloops Secondary and have Glen Poelzer as their teacher. All first place students including Jesse Mohr receive a TRU entrance scholarship.
In Chemistry 12, Hayley Tomkins had the best score for SD73. Her teacher is Glen Poelzer.
Organized by faculty members in the TRU chemistry department, the contest has grown from being a small regional activity to being province-wide and attracting some of the best high school students to TRU.
As a bonus to local School District 73 Grade 11 students, about 40 are invited to write the contest at the Kamloops campus and then participate in a variety of hands-on lab experiments with TRU faculty. TRU Williams Lake also offers SD27 local students a similar experience. This year students quantified the amount of cranberry juice in commercial beverages.