A team of five Maple Ridge secondary students placed second overall at the Physics Olympics, held at the University of British Columbia on the weekend.
Sixty schools competed at the event. Second is the best MRSS has ever finished.
The team, lead by teacher, David Jamieson, consisted of Ziang Feng, Miki Rowbottom, Aiden Smith, Jesse Stuparyk, and Tiger Zuo.
The Physics Olympics had six heats, which included a variety of activities.
MRSS was able to place silver in one of the pre-built competition.
The goal was to pick up rice in a one-centimetre-deep container using only a mousetrap as the energy source.
MRSS’s rice harvester was able to pick up 325 grams of rice, which was 100 grams more than the third place finisher.
In addition, MRSS was able to place third in the mystery lab. The mystery lab was to achieve a certain voltage drop across a particular load by using complex math.
"We were able to work together and get in the lead of other teams."
“We worked hard and we were determined to win. But most importantly, we wanted to give our best," Stuparyk said. "Not just our knowledge but we enjoyed being there and we worked extremely well as a team. That differentiated us from other teams which lead to unexpected results.”