Mastering the Material Olympics

Written By: Kieran Roy

Edited By: Zara Ahluwalia

Photos By: Kieran Roy

Blakelock was ready to show off its talent at McMaster University’s annual Materials Olympics on February 21st, 2025. This event brought together secondary school students from across Ontario to demonstrate their skills through challenges. Blakelock was set to compete.

The headlining event at the Olympics was the DomesDay competition. For this event, teams constructed a dome that could withstand the greatest amount of compressive load using the resources from their schools. Students led all aspects of material selection and design, and the competition itself raised in intensity, with $1,200 on the line in prize money.

Some of the other events included the Materials Trivia competition, where schools competed against each other to prove their knowledge of materials, and the Microscopy competition. For this event, 4 designs were etched onto 4 golden pennies (about as thin as 1/10 the width of a human hair), and each team needed to use an optical microscope to find these designs as fast as they could. 

Students also had the opportunity to see McMaster University’s cutting-edge Centres for Electron and Light Microscopy through a guided tour. A “Materials Magic Show” also took place, where Dr. Hatem Zurob, chair of the Materials Science Department, performed mesmerizing magic tricks using the powers of materials science that left the audience amazed.

With high stakes and a wide variety of activities, the Materials Olympics was a memorable experience for all participants. Blakelock was one of the winners of the Materials Trivia contest, winning $50 for our science department! Thank you to all participants for your hard work.