YRHS student places third in U of S physics contest

A Grade 12 Yorkton Regional High School physics student is among the brightest in the province.

Gavin Trost placed third last month in the annual University of Saskatchewan High School Physics Scholarship competition. Wayne Clark, Trost's teacher, said it was a particularly stellar achievement considering the teenager took the Grade 12 physics course in the fall semester and was busy preparing for his Advanced Placement Calculus final May 8 when the physics contest was held.

For his part, Trost was humble about the result.

"I'm actually quite surprised," he said. "I really didn't expect that mark."

The honour comes with a $100 scholarship if the student enrolls in any, physics engineering physics or astronomy course at the university within two years, which Trost plans to do. He is currently accepted into the Engineering program at U of S, although he said he is not 100 per cent sure yet about his specialization. Electrical engineering and computer science are high on his list of interests.

The 2013 90-minute, 31-question exam was composed by faculty of the university's Department of Physics and Engineering Physics. It is based on the Physics 20 and Physics 30 high school curriculum.

First place went to Xianxuan Yu of Walter Murray Collegiate, Saskatoon, followed by Sydney Ulrich who attends Saskatoon's Centennial Collegiate.