Students across the District are being recognized for excellence in everything from academics – such as math, writing and science – to other skills-based accomplishments. Read about some of their recent national, provincial, and local award-winning efforts below.
Russell Cheng from Forest Grove Elementary and Victor Zhang from Cameron Elementary achieved perfect scores in the challenging Gauss Math Test. Of the more than 15,000 elementary students across Canada who wrote it, a total of only 37 got a perfect score.
Lucas Wang, a Grade 11 student from Burnaby North Secondary, traveled to Fredericton to compete at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, bringing back four awards, including: a gold medal; Challenge Award: Aerospace; Youth Can Innovate Award; and entrance scholarship offers from multiple Universities across Canada – all of this for his research project: “Probing Galaxy Disk Sizes Using the Largest Ever Catalogue of Ca II Absorbers.”
Eri Jung from the District’s Hairstylist Program of Choice is a national silver medalist in the skilled trades after competing in the Skills Canada Nationals held in Regina. The Moscrop Secondary student and Soroosh Farazifard from the CISCO Networking Academy at Cariboo Hill Secondary competed against the country’s best after winning gold at Provincials. Learn more about Programs of Choice at high school here.
Reanna Pugoy from from Alpha Secondary earned first place in the Vancouver Writers Fest’s 2025 Youth Writing Contest. Her story submission “Somewhere Between the Shore and the Snow” took top honours over more than 270 high school submissions.
Twin sisters, Vivienne and Alexandra Szentirmai, from Burnaby Mountain Secondary won a City of Burnaby Environmental Star Award in the youth category in June for their work co-leading the school’s Earthwise Club. The club collaborates with a mentor from SFU’s Bridging Environments Program in the Faculty of Environment. Learn more here.
Brantford Elementary French Immersion students Emily Pham and Giada Buonassisi came in second and third place in a national French contest. They competed with video clips, where students were tasked with presenting their favourite francophone book or film.
Many student-athletes contended in provincials, with some taking big wins, such as Burnaby South’s Junior Ultimate team who won the BC Ultimate Invitational Championship in their debut Junior season, with South alumni coaching. Burnaby South’s Grade 8 Boys 4x100m Relay team won bronze at provincials. Other examples of success include Burnaby Mountain’s Sabina Rossiello, who took bronze in the Mountain Biking Championship.
Posted June 2025