For many students, the last thing they want to do is spend more time than necessary at school, but for the Howe Sound Secondary School (HSSS) physics team, that wasn't an option.
You won't hear them complaining, especially after the Squamish team took home second place at the 33rd annual Physics Olympic event on Saturday (March 12) at UBC.
"It was almost like a full-time job," said team member Jereomy Pelletier. "Friends would be texting me and asking me why I was still at school, but it was definitely worth it."
The nine members of the team spent several late nights working on their pre-builds for the event and teacher Alex Katramadakis was pleased with how his group performed under pressure.
"It's funny because a lot of the kids on the team are in athletics and told me they weren't going to be nervous," he said. "But in this type of event we had to prepare and invest up to five hours a day to perfect our pre-builds and for the kids to perform in that minute in front of all those people was intense, but they did it."
The event attracted 60 teams of five or more students from high schools across the province. Teams competed in six different events, including two pre-build events, which was where HSSS excelled.
The team did particularly well in the pendulum golf event, where students had to design a device to line up and make impact with a golf ball. The HSSS team reached 10 metres with their shot, the best score of any school. In addition to the pre-build categories, there were also theory questions that students had to brainstorm and solve on the spot. One example of a theory question the team had to answer was how much energy it would require to boil all of the water on Earth.
Team members admitted that they were surprised but overjoyed to finish in second place.
"They were announcing the teams who finished fourth and fifth and we just told ourselves we'd be happy to be in the top 20," said Ian Kerr. "When we were announced as in second place, there was a ton of cheering and we were really excited."
"After last year this was our chance for redemption," said Nicholas Bruce. "Seeing the look on Mr. K's face when we finished second was awesome and we were definitely the best-dressed team there with our white tank tops."
The reaction the team has received from classmates has also made all their work worth it.
"Everyone was super thrilled that we finished second," Bruce said. "Physics is fun and it was nice to see us get recognized."
It's been a strong run in recent years for Katramadakis and his HSSS students. They placed second in 2003, third in 2004, first in 2007 and third in 2009. He said he's constantly impressed at the quality of students coming through his classrooms.
"You see all these stickers with 'Squampton' around town, but this town produces some amazing kids," he said of some of his past Olympics students. "A number of our grads are just doing some unbelievable stuff and this community has a lot to be proud of."
Katramadakis said the team's attitude and co-operation helped lead this team to second place.
"These guys all get along and the camaraderie on the team was really strong this year," he said. "I hope these guys all stay in touch and I expect big things in the future from all of them."
Bruce agreed that the team really came together.
"I think we're all super close," he said. "It was a lot of hours and we had to get along and we did. Nobody took too much credit and we all really worked hard together as a team."
The plaque for the team's second-place finish will go on the wall in room B208, taking its rightful place with the other trophies accumulated throughout the years. The Grade 12s will move on, but hope they instilled a winning attitude on the lone Grade 11 student on the team, Arpin Bhullar.
The 2011 second-place team was comprised of: Ian Kerr, Jereomy Pelletier, Nicholas Bruce, Connor Haberl, Keenan Genovese, Nico Harvey, Arpin Bhullar, Ben Hughes and Alex Toews.
