Saskatoon teen to compete in national Brain Bee event
Saskatoon may soon claim bragging rights over being home to Canada’s “Best Brain” when local high school student Alina Sami competes in the 11th annual Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canadian National Brain Bee.
A Grade 11 student at Walter Murray Collegiate, Sami said training and competing in the Brain Bee is a perfect way to start down her recently realized dream of a career in neuroscience research.
“Before participating in this competition I had a vague idea of what neuroscience was but I was always interested in mental health and mental illness, so that’s what I went into it knowing,” she said.
“But preparing for this competition I not only learned a lot about neuroscience itself, but I also learned about the biological basis of mental illness.”
This weekend, Sami will compete against 14 other high school students from across Canada in the National Brain Bee. In March, she won the Saskatchewan regional competition.
Sami said she was a little nervous about the competition, which takes place at McMaster University in Hamilton, but is excited to compete and looks forward to meeting other contestants and some of top neuroscience experts.
“Winning and losing doesn’t matter. What matters is how much you learn from the experience and I’ve already learned so much about myself and not only neuroscience but also the career path I want to follow.”