4 minute read
Academics
Congratulations to the many students who represented Selwyn House School and brought recognition for their school locally, provincially and nationally. Here are just a few of the accolades that students received.
Grade 6 student Lucas Cheung was the Provincial Champion for Quebec at the Canadian Scholastic Achievement League.
Lucas a aussi représenté Selwyn House à la finale régionale de la Dictée PGL (Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie).
For the fourth year in a row, a Grade 8 student has won the Write for Justice Competition run by the Montreal Bar Association. This year it was Xavier Court.
Grade 11 student Mikhael Auerbach placed first in the QAIS Senior Public Speaking Competition. Grade 7 student Leo Smilow was awarded first place in the McEntyre Creative Writing Competition.
Edward Kovac, un élève de 8e année, était vedette sur une émission du programme “Les inventifs” sur TV5 unis en mai. Il explique l’invention géniale qu’il a présentée dans le cadre de la finale régionale de Montréal de l’Expo Sciences. Edward a fabriqué une prothèse auditive très abordable qui aide les gens à mieux entendre.
Grade 10 student Adolfo de Motta Molina was named top Quebec Speaker at the Canadian Student Debating Federation National Seminar. Onze garçons du primaire ont été récompensés pour leurs projets à la finale régionale de Montréal d’Expo-Sciences. Liam Sarhan un élève de 4e année (première rangé, troisième par la gauche) a gagné la medaille d’or dans sa catégorie. Lucas Cheung (arrière, à gauche), un élève de 6e année, a gagné le Premier Prix Hydro-Québec, accordé au meilleur projet de la compétition, pour son projet « Générateur électromagnétique ».
Thirty-five Senior students elected to write the Pascal, Cayley and Fermat contests for the University of Waterloo Canadian Mathematics Competition. Over 1,000 schools across Canada participated and five of our students scored in the top 25%.
(L to R) Marc Gélinas, Kingsley Chen, Yanwen Yang (who was named the school’s top scorer), Ken Zhao, Henry Feltham
STOKING THE FLAMES OF COMPETITION
Lucas. Macaulay. Wanstall. Speirs. The names of the first four headmasters are everywhere in the school. They are also the names of ‘‘houses,’’ which are another relational aspect of the school. Each student belongs to a house. The houses compete against each other in activities throughout the year.
The inter-house competitive spirit doesn’t normally extend to academics, but this past spring, the Senior School Mathematics department decided to turn a cancelled inter-school competition into a resounding inter-house success.
Every year, a half-dozen students participate in The Canadian Team Mathematics Contest organized by the University of Waterloo. After the event was cancelled, Senior School math department teacher Dan Elbling shared an idea with department head Samara Sayegh to engage their students in a similar competitive framework. ‘‘We knew the University of Waterloo event was mathematically rigorous, exciting and engaging for the students. When it was cancelled, we thought we could run it ourselves at the school,’’ explains Mr. Elbling.
The entire department quickly came together to organize the first ever inter-house math competition. Teacher Andrew Lee created the TAG event so that all Senior School students could participate. Teacher Sjvetlana Kukrika Ignjatovic printed posters and took photos to spread the word. Personalized t-shirts were made, complete with each participant’s name and favourite math symbol. House heads were enlisted to maximize participation. Even the trophy was made by teacher Kirk Brydges in the woodshop.
It didn’t take long before the Macaulay building was buzzing with anticipation. ‘‘What’s that competition? All of a sudden, math was being talked about in the hallways,’’ says Ms. Sayegh. Before long, 30 students signed up to participate, enough to fill the Red Room where the event took place.
The competition was divided into three sections: a team event, in which Grade 9, 10 and 11 students were mixed into groups to answer 25 questions on a single answer sheet; a solo event; and in the final event, or “relay,” each student solved a question and passed his answer to a second student behind him, who then incorporated the answer into his own question.
A spirit of teamwork quickly developed as the younger students worked with their older peers, pushing their age differences aside to focus on the strengths of each person on their team. After a full morning of competition, Wanstall House won the honours.
Teamwork, challenging problems, and a competitive atmosphere: a formula perfect for boys!
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Samara Sayegh (L) and Dan Elbling during the competition
Team Lucas during the group event
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Team Speirs show off their t-shirts
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The Wanstall House team
Team Macaulay show off their t-shirts
