After a five-year hiatus, the CBR Amazing Race returned! Under the slogan “Summer Students Run. CBR Members Host”, 9 CBR labs on campus united to host a one-of-a-kind science gaming event last Thursday afternoon.
A summer student running to a lab.
This year, we were excited to welcome four Life Sciences Institute (LSI) summer students to join us in our race! 20 summer students arrived in the Life Sciences Centre (LSC) between 1:50 – 2:05pm. Here’s a tip, if you’re wanting students to arrive early, make sure you award them some bonus points! After partnering up and receiving their Amazing Race Passports, 8 teams were on their way to visit the labs. Many did not strategize and were out the door as soon as we said BEGIN! We knew that the students were eager when they all chose not to wait for the elevators and ran up the stairs all the way up to the 4th floor.
To earn their points, the summer students had to successfully navigate their way to the CBR labs and then complete an activity which ranged from: blood typing, crystallizing a protein, concentrating a protein, assembling a microfluidic chip and various puzzles such as trivia, crosswords and anagrams!
Our 2024 winners!
Here were the final statistics:
- 4 teams made it to the lab outside of the LSC
- 4 teams made it to all but one lab
- 1 team made it to all labs
- 3 teams made it back on time at 3:15pm
Unfortunately for our late arrivals, there was a one-point deduction for every 5 minutes past 3:15pm. The last team to arrive showed up at 3:32pm.
To announce the win, we had CBR members join us for a post-race celebration with lots of yummy pizza to foster a festive atmosphere. Congratulations to our winners, Susan Zhang from the Pryzdial Lab and Alessia Palumbo from the Foster Lab! They were the ONLY team that made it to all labs. Although they showed up 4 minutes late, they still beat the runners-up by 3 points. As a prize, they received CBR tote bags, CBR umbrellas, CBR mugs and a goodie bag with snacks and drinks.
A BIG thank you to everyone who participated in and supported the CBR Amazing Race event. The event was only made possible because the CBR is lucky to have so many dedicated students, postdocs, research associates, PIs, staff, and the H&W Committee members working in all of its labs!
