Today has been yet another action-packed day of Shad. Waking up to my carefully planned system of three alarm clocks, I trudged downstairs for the delicious breakfast provided to us every morning. Realizing I had less than fifteen minutes to get ready, I grabbed a banana and a bite of cereal, and rushed to our first lecture of the day with my fellow Waterloo Shads – making it on Shad time, of course!
After a fascinating lecture on how to mathematically model the blurring of light, a group of several Shads and I headed off to the last of four workshops on quantum mechanics. Throughout the past couple of days, Martin Laforest from the Institute for Quantum Computing has been teaching us about the basics of quantum mechanics. Today, we learned about quantum cryptography, and how it can be used to encrypt an unbreakable message – the only way to break such a message would require defying the laws of physics! However, the best part was definitely getting a tour of the laboratories in the IQC where cutting-edge quantum mechanics research is done. After our workshop, Martin joined us at our residence at Conrad Grebel University College for a delicious home-made lunch.
Later in the day, we received a lecture on bubbles – it is quite surprising how much one can learn simply from observing the behaviour of bubbles! For example, they explain the concept of self-assembly of systems such as the phospholipid bilayer of cells, and can be studied to help plan city roads. Plus, they’re fun to look at!
Next, of course, came project time. My group and I are focusing on helping children with dyscalculia, a condition which involves extreme difficulty in understanding mathematics. It is comparable to dyslexia. We have been hard at work trying to develop a solution to help older children with dyscalculia cope with difficulties they may encounter in everyday life due to the condition, such as managing money when shopping or keeping track of time.
Tomorrow is going to be the release of the last Harry Potter film, and I know it will be a sombre day for many of us Waterloo Shads who will be missing it. But when all is said and done, none of us regret coming to Shad in the least, and I’m sure tomorrow’s action-packed day will quickly take our minds off the lack of Harry Potter!
It is astounding how much has happened in the twelve days that have passed since the first day of Shad Valley. Whether it’s going to lectures, or meeting with guest speakers from the Bank of Canada and RIM, or even camping and being bitten by over 90mosquitoes, every single day has brought new and eye-opening experiences. And, of course, I have met forty-seven amazingly gifted people who have quickly become some of my best friends.
Joanna Wang, Shad University of Waterloo 2011
Hometown: Richmond Hill, ON
