KAMLOOPS – Five students from Kamloops secondary schools had the highest scores out of 201 contestants from around the region in the TRU-sponsored British Columbia Secondary Schools Mathematics Contest 2007, capturing five of the six top spots.
All winners but one are from city schools, two are siblings and many are members of their school’s honour band. A fact seeming to affirm the truism that mathematics and music are linked in the brain. Shane Rollans is the the father of 1st-place Junior writer Keith Rollans (Sa-Hali Secondary) and 3rd-place senior writer Charlotte Rollans (Sa-Hali Secondary). Keith along with 2nd-place Junior Stephan Bouthot (South Kamloops Secondary) and 1st-place Senior Alan Richards (SKSS), are honour band members.
The contest, now in its 35th year, attracts students from 100 Mile House, Ashcroft, Barriere, Clearwater, Merritt and Williams Lake. 201 students participated in the Preliminary Round of the Contest on Mar. 7; of those 116 were in the Junior section (Grades 8-10) and 85 were in the Senior section (Grades 11 and 12). The top Junior and Senior in each school were awarded Preliminary Round Book Prizes, and a maximum of six students from each school were invited to write the Final Round at TRU on May 3.
A total of 62 students, 30 Juniors and 32 Seniors, participated in the Final Round. Following the competition students and teachers were entertained by Dr. Jonathan Berkowitz from UBC who spoke on the topic of ‘Logology.’
The top three Juniors, 1st-place Keith Rollans, 2nd-place Stephan Bouthot and 3rd-place Garrett Paluck (Brocklehurst Secondary) were awarded Final Round Book Prizes, while the top three Seniors, 1st-place Alan Richards, 2nd-place Josh Smith (Williams Lake Secondary) and 3rd-place Charlotte Rollans won book prizes plus scholarships in the amount of $600, $400 and $200 respectively.
TRU’s department of mathematics and statistics is responsible for the organization of the BC Secondary Schools Mathematics Contest for Kamloops and the surrounding area each year.
The university’s chemistry and biochemistry department also holds a province-wide competition each year. Last year, students from 83 different schools around British Columbia (and one school from Garden City, New York, N.Y.) participated, with 1498 Chem 11 students and 1034 Chem 12 students writing the contest. This year’s contest will be held Wednesday, May 16. The TRU-Kamloops contest organizers hope to offer the contest and lab experience in Williams Lake this year, using an interactive lab network, and will also have a group of students coming from Salmon Arm to do the contest at TRU’s Kamloops campus.
For more information check out http://www.tru.ca/science/chemistry/chem_contest.html or contact: Fae DeBeck, TRU Mathematics & Statistics, at (250) 828-5226 or by email.
Shane Rollans, TRU Mathematics & Statistics, at (250) 828-5054 or (250) 372-5478 or by email.
Doug Bickley, TRU Chemistry & Biochemistry, at (250) 828-5455 or by email.
