Some teens might not light up at the prospect of spending half their summer “immersed in the rewards and rigours of higher learning,” but 11 bright young Burnaby students sure did.
Last month, 12 local teens in Grades 10 to 12 were among 620 students across Canada to participate in the Shad Valley science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program.
Designed to push students’ intellectual, creative and leadership skills to the next level, the Waterloo, Ont.-based program places students at 12 host universities across the country.
For four-weeks, they live in dorms, take in science, engineering, technology and entrepreneurship workshops, and work in teams to create a prototype of a product with an accompanying business plan.
The Burnaby participants – whose career aspirations after high school range from engineering to theoretical physics and medicine to business – called the experience “life-changing” and nothing like regular school.
“From the very beginning they taught us that ‘failure is an option’ and failure is often crucial to success,” said Burnaby South student Marina Gonzalez, who attended Shad at Queen’s University in Ontario. “In school, we don't have time to learn from our failures.”
Moscrop’s Caitlin Wu, another Queen's "shad," said much the same.
“It was okay to fail, because that meant that at least we tried something different, something that was outside the box,” she said. “A problem in society today is the lack of creativity in ideas – people play it safe.”
Wu said it took awhile to get out of that mindset herself.
“The most challenging part was learning not to shoot down crazy ideas immediately,” she said. “We have become so conditioned to sticking to the status quo that most of the time, we can’t see the genius behind an idea that seems so far fetched or the path that it may lead us to.”
For Burnaby South’s Federico Firoozi, who attended Shad Waterloo, being surrounded by highly motivated students like him was another novelty.
“One of the first days at Shad, I was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, talking to another fellow Shad about how to find the volume of a sphere using integral calculus,” he said. “Soon enough others joined our table, eager to learn about what we were talking about. It really shocked me that there are other people out there who are passionate about math.”
Building a network of Canada’s best and brightest has been a goal of Shad for 34 years, so getting into the program is a competitive process, based on marks and community involvement.
“Shad sparks personal growth and healthy self-confidence in Canada’s next generation of STEM leaders and change makers – a group that needs special attention and support beyond regular high school classroom settings.” Shad president Barry Bisson said.
It was also a whole lot of fun, according to the Burnaby contingent.
“There was never a dull moment,” Wu said, “and there was always something to look forward to around the corner.”
Burnaby’s other shads this year were Frank Cheng, Harold Xi, Lily Xiong, and Nancy Yang (Burnaby North); Sarah Savic Kallesoe (Byrne Creek); Angela Yu and Robyn Lee (Burnaby Mountain); Albert Kragl (Stratford Hall School); and Lasya Vankayala (David Thompson Secondary).
