Speaker's Idol Goes National!

 FRIENDS OF SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE

FOR HOLOCAUST STUDIES

Entries are now being accepted for the 11th annual Speaker’s Idol speech competition, once again being held in a virtual format. Students in Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12 are being asked to prepare and submit their thoughts on how to make positive change while commenting on Simon Wiesenthal’s famous quote:

 “The history of humankind is the history of crimes and history can repeat. So information is a defence. Through this we can build, we must build, a defence against repetition.”

This year, students from across Canada will  have a chance to submit their speech to win the title of Speaker’s Idol (and, of course, one of our many exciting prizes!)

Submissions will be accepted until midnight EST on March 12, 2021, and the finalists virtual presentation will be taking place on May 13, 2021. 

https://www.friendsofsimonwiesenthalcenter.com/

University of Waterloo: March Break Updates

 

Cybersecurity Camp | Grades 8 - 10
Privacy and cybersecurity are currently some of the hottest topics in the world of technology. Campers will learn best practices for keeping themselves safe online, identify privacy threats, and learn analytical and programming skills necessary to encrypt and decrypt messages.

Time: 1:00 - 3:00pm

Registration: $49

https://uwaterloo.campbrainregistration.com/

MCMASTER UNIVERSITY | MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

 

LINK

McMaster University will be starting a series of online lectures for high school students. These lectures, on a variety of interesting math and stats topics, will encourage, and demand, active participation (in other words, no one will be talking for 50 minutes straight; instead, students might be asked to answer a question, come up with suggestions, work on a problem, and so on.)

McMaster's first lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, 27 January 2021, from 6:30pm-7:30pm
(other lectures will follow every other week, Wednesdays, same time).
For the information about the lectures and a zoom link to join the lectures, please direct your students to our outreach page
https://ms.mcmaster.ca/lovric/msoutreach/

This page will be updated with information about forthcoming lectures, which we plan to offer at least until April.

2021 CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee

 

The 2021 Canadian National Brain Bee competition will be virtual!

The Canadian National Brain Bee, including local and national level competitions, will be virtual in 2021. Local Brain Bee competition dates will likely be sometime in May 2021.  National Brain Bee competition dates will likely be sometimes in late June or early July 2021.  We will update our website with more information as soon as possible, including registration, study materials, and more precise competition dates, times, and virtual locations.  Please be patient with us as we work on converting to a virtual platform for the Brain Bee.

Like our page on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CanadianNationalBrainBee.  

Challenge 4 Climate Action

 

In the last challenge Iroquois Ridge was one of the top schools with their response/presentation. There were over 100 teams from all over the world and representing every continent. There were also university teams involved and the Ridge was in the top 5. Pretty remarkable!

• Students in our Challenge stream will ideate solutions which help contribute to addressing real life climate challenges. Choosing from one of our Problem Statements, written by our NGO partners including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO & BirdLife, Teams will then have 10 days to work on their solution. The Top 10 Teams will present their ideas to our esteemed Judges with the 1st place winners awarded CAD$6,000, 2nd and 3rd places CAD$4,000 and CAD$2,000 respectively. 

• We’re also running a Datathon stream, with two prizes of CAD$4,000 and CAD$2,000. Teams will be provided with data sets to develop actionable insights and/or predictive models.

• To kick-off the Challenge, we are hosting a virtual Conference on the 18th February, also open to members of the public

Please visit their website for more details:

https://www.challenge4climateaction.com/

TEAM REGISTRATION CLOSES ON FEBRUARY 1ST

Waterloo Math & Computing Contests

Waterloo Math & Computing Contests

Registration to a new batch of math contests run by University of  Waterloo is now open through SchoolCashOnline. An announcement has been posted already.

IRHS offers the following contests between the months of February and April:

Math

Gr. 9 - Pascal & Fryer

Gr. 10 - Cayley & Galois

Gr. 11 - Fermat & Hypatia

Gr. 12 - Euclid    

Contact :Mrs. Barsan (barsonl@hdsb.ca) and website tinyurl.com/barsanl

Computing

Canadian Computing Competition (CCC)

Contact: Mrs. Quesnelle (quesnellea@hdsb.ca)

Students are automatically registered as soon as they pay the fee in SchoolCashOnline.

Check the announcements daily and be aware of registration deadlines.

Engineering Outreach @ the UofW

New Year, New Programs! Welcome back! We have some exciting programs and events happening this winter. Take a look at the list below and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We hope to see you soon :) Design for All Design For All is a six-week virtual program that aims to teach participants about the principles and applications of universal design. Work together in groups and receive guidance from faculty and industry professionals as you work on designing a solution to a real-world problem.    Register Here CLEO (Community Leaders in Engineering Outreach) This program will give a small team of high school students (Gr. 9 – 12) the chance to create and implement a new STEM community outreach project with guidance from the Engineering Outreach team. From brainstorming to promotion and implementation, our team will facilitate and work closely with program members as they develop their own STEM project that impacts the local community through direct action. At the end of this 12-week program, you will have created, developed, and implemented a STEM community project and learned some essential STEM, leadership, and project coordination skills along the way!      Register Here

Winter 2021 Global Engineering Challenge

 

Global Engineering Challenge

 

The Global Engineering Challenge aims to broaden the minds of Grade 9-12 students. This program is designed for highly committed and motivated students who have an interest in problem solving. 

 

Students are given the opportunity to engage with experts in the field of engineering every week, participate in workshops that provide students with a greater understanding of the issues and how to proceed in developing effective solutions. This program supports the goals of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering in preparing students with the technical and trans-disciplinary competencies necessary for them to identify, learn, and apply along with engineering practices to resolve global challenges, create new technologies and contribute to the prosperity of society. 

 

More information:

Program information, course descriptions, and registration links can be found on the Global Engineering Challenge webpage.   

*Please note that the link to register will not be activated on our website until January 5th, 2021 at 12 PM EST.

Winter 2021 STEM Enrichment Courses

 

STEM Enrichment Courses

 

The STEM Enrichment Courses aim to challenge and excite highly motivated students from grades 9 - 12 in various areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Led by upper-undergraduate and graduate engineering students, students explore advanced engineering topics, and the range of projects engineers work on in order to build a better society. Students will realize what it means to be a well-rounded engineer in this community-oriented, remote, and accessible virtual environment. 

  

More information:

Program information, course descriptions, and registration links can be found on the STEM Enrichment Courses webpage.

*Please note that the link to register will not be visible/activated on our website until January 5th, 2021 at 12 PM EST.