Posted on July 16: MiniShad brings more bright young minds to McMaster

default-hero-image

BY Julia Thomson

July 16, 2004

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/minishad.jpg” caption=”Students at MiniShad”]

If you're one of Canada's brightest young students, how do you spend a Saturday on your summer vacation?

For a select group of students from across Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo, and the greater Toronto area, the answer to that question is at university.

On Saturday, July 17, 150 Grade 9 and 10 students will travel to McMaster to participate in the University's annual MiniShad Day. The day-long program provides participants, their teachers, and parents with an opportunity to learn more about the academic programs available at McMaster and to experience a day in the life of a Shad student firsthand.

The award-winning Shad Valley Program began two weeks ago when 52 exceptional young high school students from across Canada arrived at McMaster for a month-long immersion into university life. Shad — or MacShad as it's known at McMaster — is an elite science, technology, mathematics, and entrepreneurship summer camp for senior high school students who have demonstrated excellence in academics, recreation, leadership, entrepreneurship, and community involvement.

At MiniShad, students will receive a hands-on introduction to McMaster. After a lecture by widely acclaimed McMaster University mathematics professor, Miroslav Lovric, students will work together in an engineering design challenge where they will build water rockets. In the afternoon, 17 faculty-led workshops will introduce students to the academic disciplines available at McMaster, including engineering, science, business, health sciences, humanities, and the social sciences.

Parents and teachers will also receive a special introduction to McMaster with a campus tour and presentations from the McMaster student liaison office and Jack Pal, vice-president of Shad Valley International.

Says Angelika Sellick, director of the McMaster Shad Valley program, “These students are some of Canada's brightest young minds, and they are potential McMaster students. It is important to give them a taste of university life, and MiniShad is a great way to do that.”