Burnaby North Grade 11 student Jonathan Lew earned second place in a national competition last month after capturing the beauty of physics in a photograph.
Lew snapped a shot of Seattle’s 184m-tall Space Needle reflected in a glass sculpture, and was runner-up in the International Year of Light category of the Canadian Association of Physicists’ Art of Physics competition last month.
The association has run the annual contest since 1992 in a bid to stimulate interest, especially among non-scientists, in the imagery associated with physics.
The challenge is to capture a beautiful or unusual physics phenomenon in a photo and explain it in less than 200 words in terms everyone can understand.
Lew explained the giant Seattle landmark – and much of the surrounding area – was visible in the reflection because the sculpture acted as a spherical mirror.
To see all the winners, visit www.cap.ca/aop/art.html.
Arts connection
Students at two Burnaby schools connected with the arts this year thanks to a $13,000 grant from the Westminster Savings Foundation.
More than 250 students at Morley and Edmonds elementary schools spent the school year exploring the visual arts, dance, drama, and rock and roll in Connecting with the Arts, an after-school program for students in grades 1 to 7.
Designed to help kids develop social and emotional skills, the program runs throughout the school year, with eight-week units focusing on each art form.
“For those kids who haven’t found their place through academics or athletics, this program can be their avenue to connect with the school, come out of their shell and have some fun,” Morley youth worker Lana Horton said.
Burnaby’s Connecting with the Arts students showcased their new art skills at a year-end performance at Morley elementary last month.
Physics excellence
Two Burnaby students cracked into the top 10 of a national physics competition last month.
Burnaby South’s Federico Firoozi and Cariboo Hill’s Ray Zhang scored third and 10th respectively in the 2015 Sir Isaac Newton Exam put on by the department of physics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Tao Jin from Burnaby North came in 77th.
More than 1,900 students from across Canada, the U.S. and other countries wrote this year’s exam in May.
Skilled Canadian
Burnaby South student Jason Sherle reached the podium at the 21st annual Skills Canada nationals in Saskatoon, Sask. last month – and only missed qualifying for the Word Skills competition by two steps.
Sherle, a student in the Burnaby School district’s ACE-IT auto collision repair program, won bronze, behind a gold medalist from Manitoba and a silver medallist from Alberta.
Skills Canada puts on Olympic-style multi-trade multi-technology competitions at the regional, provincial and national level for young Canadians pursuing skilled trades.
Sherle qualified for the nationals by winning gold at the provincial competition in April.
He also won the faculty award for top student in the auto collision repair and refinishing program at Vancouver Community College, which partners with the Burnaby district to offer the ACE-IT auto collision repair program.
