High tech trip to Toronto I


n June, 2017, fifteen BHS students headed to Canada to spend their last few days


before the Summer break at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), designing a sail boat, geocaching, building a robot and solving a crime. The trip also gave the girls a first- hand look at university life. BHS was the first school outside of Canada to be invited to UOIT last year, and was happy to send a contingent of students again this year. Here Year 11 student, Kameron Young ‘19, gives a first hand account of the trip:


On the first day, an inspiring speech was given by Ololade Sanusi, a PhD candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering programme. Sanusi talked about her own experiences in the engineering field from a professional’s point of view. With her kind smile and jokes, Sanusi quickly gained the students’ attention and interest. Multiple students mentioned either a reinforced or new interest in engineering.


“Inspirational speakers


reinforced for us that our career choices are not limited because we are female.”


scientist at a crime scene; complete with the ‘bunny suit’: mask, gloves and shoe covers. Two students, Eloise Pinchin ‘19 and Chloe Barker ‘18, were given the task of re-enacting a crime. They were given a fake skull full of blood and a bat to crack it open. The force caused the skull to shatter and splatter the blood on the pieces of paper behind it. We then learned about some of the logistics of dealing forensically with such a scene.


The day ended with an


Clean crime scene: Students spent a day learning about forensic science including donning “bunny suits” when investigating a (fake) blood-splattered crime scene.


Calvina Steede ‘19 said that the presentation “opened her eyes” to the different fields in engineering. Another student, Nyla Maharaj ‘18, remarked that Sanusi showed her that engineering is not just a “male field”, nor is it mostly math and science, as many students fear. Before coming to Canada, the BHS students were tasked with


creating a sail. These sails were then attached to a boat and raced in a wind tunnel created by the engineering team at UOIT. The team called ‘The Flying Dutchman’, consisting of myself,


Sacred Basden ‘19, and Thélise Dyer ‘19 won the competition. Throughout the competition, we all learned to problem solve and assess our situation, adapting our plan as the situation required. Watching forensic science TV dramas, like CSI and Bones, is completely different than being able to experience forensics like we did on the second day. We studied blood splatter, dusted for fingerprints, used a metal detector to search for bullet casings and formed a line to search for pig bones. We also each had the chance to try on the uniform of a forensic


14 Torchbearer Fall 2017


interesting lecture on the two main studies of forensics: anthropology and entomology. We inked our own fingerprints and looked at slides with


different samples under a microscope. Many of us left with a new- found love of forensics.


The experience at UOIT ended with a sneak peek into geo- caching and robotics. Using a GPS app, we went on a scavenger hunt where we had to match a fact to a person. The most competitive part of the day was when we learned how to build and programme EV3 robots. The first task that we were given was to guide our robot through a series of blocks with numbers on them. We had to reach 50 points by the time the robot hit the finish line.


The second challenge was to guide the robots through a maze, by using sensors to guide the robot to the finish line. Overall, we were given an incredible opportunity to learn more about university life and get a “sneak peek” into some of the courses on offer. Inspirational speakers like Ololade Sanusi, and the female volunteers from each programme, reinforced for us that our career choices are not limited because we are female. Our visit to UOIT was an amazing experience, and we all learnt a lot from our time there.


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