Klonowski advances to International Brain Bee
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2021 (1925 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Grade 9 student Antoni Klonowski will soon be representing Brandon on a global stage, since he recently secured a first-place finish in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s 2021 Canadian National Brain Bee.
McMaster University hosted this virtual competition on Saturday, during which Klonowski bested 15 other students in the preliminary round to advance to the finals.
From there, Klonowski went head-to-head with some of the top high school minds in the country, eventually beating Guelph representative Leo Li in the championship round.
Unlike a spelling bee, the Canadian National Brain Bee is designed to test high school students’ knowledge of the brain and neuroscience research in general.
In order to prepare for this contest, students are required to brush up on topics such as memory, sleep, intelligence, aging, neurology, genetics and brain disease.
During the competition itself, students are presented with multiple-choice and short-answer questions based on these subjects.
According to a Tuesday news release from Vincent Massey, Klonowski’s victory on Saturday marks the first time a Manitoba student has won the CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee competition.
Vincent Massey vice-principal Ashley Dyson told the Sun that Klonowski’s performance is even more impressive when you consider the fact that most national Brain Bee winners are in either Grade 11 or 12, which really speaks to this freshman’s desire to learn.
“Right from when he arrived here, he was interested in doing additional work and finding out more about higher level sciences and things like that,” Dyson said on Tuesday afternoon. “So he’s a very interesting student. He’s really keen.”
In order to get this far, Klonowski also came out on top in the Winnipeg Brain Bee event that took place on Friday, making him the fourth Vincent Massey student to receive this honour.
From 2017 to 2019, Vincent Massey pupils Sophie Kim, Muhammad Hayat and Elayna Paddock-Thiessen also advanced to the Canadian National Brain Bee after claiming first place in this Winnipeg-based competition.
With these two wins in his back pocket, Klonowski is advancing to the 2021 International Brain Bee competition, which is scheduled to take place this coming fall.
This event usually features competitors from more than 50 countries every year, according to the International Brain Bee’s official website.
Even though this international competition is a couple months away, Dyson is confident that Klonowski will make Canada proud based on his natural curiosity and the prep work he has already put in.
“He has a very deep interest in science, he’s always asking questions and he’s reading a lot,” the vice-principal said.
“So it’s a good fit for him.”
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson