On 31 May, the awards ceremony for the 9th edition of the “There’s Chemistry Here” contest organized by IQS and aimed at first and second year secondary school baccalaureate students took place.
On 31 May, the awards ceremony for the 9th edition of the "There's Chemistry Here" contest organized by IQS and aimed at first and second year secondary school baccalaureate students took place. This year's edition featured participation with 135 total videos from 16 schools throughout Catalonia. The event was chaired by Dr Jordi Díaz, Dean of the IQS School of Engineering, who was assisted by Dr Jordi Cuadros, professor with the Department of Quantitative Methods, and Dr Xavier Ramirez, with IQS Communications and Corporate Marketing.
In the section featuring the award-winning videos, third place went to the video: “Chemistry for protecting underwater life,” prepared by Arnau Gordo Hernández from the Sant Gervasi Cooperative School in Mollet del Vallés. This video was made under the guidance of his chemistry teacher, Laia Hernández. Second place went to Ivet García Hueso, from the Pía School in Terrassa, with the video "Aerogel: a solution to combat oil spills," who received the prize in person, accompanied by her tutor and chemistry teacher, Lydia Cerveró. The award for second and third place is a scholarship for 50% of the tuition for the first year of the Undergraduate Programme in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.
The first place winner was Anna Torrente Lemus, from the Gabriel Ferrater i Soler Secondary School in Reus, with the video “Green Hydrogen,” made under the guidance of her teacher Mercè Argilaga. The first-place winner can earn a scholarship for 75% of the tuition for the first year of the Undergraduate Programmes in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering at IQS, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.
Josep Mª Santillana Recasens, from the Hamelin International School, won the fan favourite award with the video “Biocatalysts,” as the video with the most votes on YouTube. Josep’s video was supervised by his teacher Lourdes Pasqual. The prize consisted of a FNAC gift card worth €300, which was collected by Ms Pasqual as Josep attended the event online.
Finally, the €3,000 equipment prize awarded to the school with the largest number of participants went to the Viaró Global School in this year's edition, with 48 videos submitted. Javier Pérez, a teacher at the school, accepted the award in person.
The winning videos were viewed during the awards ceremony and can be viewed along with the other participating videos on the contest's website www.aquihayquimica.com.
The event ended with closing remarks from Dr Díaz who welcomed the high level of involvement in the competition both in terms of the number of participating schools and their distribution from throughout Catalonia. Dr Díaz also encouraged teachers to continue inspiring students to participate as a way to increase their creativity and their interest in scientific dissemination issues. He also thanked the families of the participants for their support and encouragement and reaffirmed IQS's commitment to continue organizing this contest considering its highly-positive reception by secondary schools.
The 9th edition of the contest featured video submissions from secondary school baccalaureate students at schools throughout Catalonia. Specifically, the following schools in Barcelona participated: Betània Patmos, Col·legi Montserrat, Escuela Proa, Jesuïtes Casp, Jesús Maria Sant Gervasi, Kensington School, and Saint Nicholas School; as well as the following schools from the rest of Catalonia: Escola Pia de Terassa, Escola Sant Gervasi Cooperativa (Mollet del Vallès), Hamelin Laie International School (Montgat), Institució Tarragona, IES Gabriel Ferrater i Soler (Reus), Jesuïtes Lleida, Vedruna Vall (Terrassa), and Viaró Global School (Sant Cugat del Vallès).