Semiahmoo Secondary students are celebrating this week, after taking top spot in this year’s UBC Physics Olympics.
According to a tweet, students competed in six science events during an online event on Saturday (March 5), with 50 teams from around the province vying for medals.
UBC Physics Olympics Results
— Semiahmoo Secondary (@SemiahmooSec) March 6, 2022
Our Semiahmoo students did it again. They competed in the UBC Physics Olympics today, competing against 50 teams from around the province.
They came in 1st Place in the Province. https://t.co/E6xNskRB06
According to information online, the event is “one of the oldest and largest physics competitions in North America.”
It was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, but was held virtually in 2021; a format that was repeated this year.
Two events revolved around pre-builds; in another, students were given challenging questions about physics and astronomy. In a ‘Fermi Questions’ event, participants had to estimate the best answers to approximation problems; the last two events involved hands-on activities and testing of the students’ knowledge of experimental physics.
It was not the first time that Semi students have competed and done well in the event.
Last year, a team of 29 Semi students participated, finishing third overall and earning mention in a summary posted by the organizers, for coming up “with 14 different ways to use the phyphox app on their phone to measure the acceleration of free fall.”
“Every year the students demonstrate a phenomenal aptitude for tackling challenging problems in unique ways,” the summary continues.
Semi also placed first overall in 2019.
tholmes@peacearchnews.com
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