Olympic Rower Melanie Kok Kicks-Off Engineering & Science Competition

October 15, 2009

Almost 1,000 students from nearly 50 Ontario high schools tested their engineering and science knowledge and abilities at the 20th Annual Engineering and Science Olympics on Thursday, October 15 at McMaster University.

Canadian rower Melanie Kok, bronze medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games helped to kick the day off with an inspirational welcome. Melanie is a graduate student in the neuroscience program at McMaster and a volunteer with Let’s Talk Science.

The students competed for more than $20,000 in McMaster tuition entrance prizes, which were awarded to teams winning the day’s competitions.

Competitions included: build your own robot, egg high jump, physics paper triathlon, chemical forensics, civil Canada arm, photonic puzzles, a mechanical transporter competition, and mathematical mental gymnastics.

Students were also able to learn more about engineering and science through an Open House featuring departmental displays and demonstrations. There were also demonstrations organized through Let's Talk Science, VidaLAB, W.C. McCallion Planetarium, and McMaster Museum of Art. Engineering student Kyla Fisher spoke about her summer work experience in Ghana with Engineering Without Borders. High school teachers were also put to the challenge in a lunch-hour competition where a $1,500 tuition prizes for one of their students went to the winning teacher.

Winning Results for the 2009 McMaster Engineering & Science Olympics are posted at: http://olympics.mcmaster.ca/about/winners.php