{"id":31710,"date":"2022-07-28T19:31:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T23:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31710"},"modified":"2022-07-28T19:31:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T23:31:49","slug":"passion-for-sciences-help-st-max-grad-score-impressive-99-17-average","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/passion-for-sciences-help-st-max-grad-score-impressive-99-17-average\/","title":{"rendered":"Passion for sciences help St. Max grad score impressive 99.17% average"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As he prepares to leave Aurora to pursue his dream of being a doctor, St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School graduate Nathan Lai left his secondary education on a high note \u2013 scoring an impressive final grade average of 99.17 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lai is one of the York Catholic District School Board\u2019s 2022 Top Scholars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongratulations to our Top Scholars on achieving one of the biggest accomplishments of your lives,\u201d said Dominic Scuglia, Director of Education at the YCDSB. \u201cThis is an outstanding academic achievement and we send you heartfelt congratulations and wish you all the best on your next journey. The success of all of our Top Scholars is also due in part to their parents, families, friends, teachers, education workers, administrators, student services personnel, Catholic Education Centre staff, and trustees who have supported and encouraged them throughout their time with York Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Auroran last week, Lai said his high marks weren\u2019t exactly expected as \u201cI didn\u2019t really have high expectations after completing all my classes\u201d but a focus on math and science in his final year at St. Max undoubtedly propelled him forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are my strongest subjects, so I took things like calculus, data management, biology, chemistry and stuff like that and I think by taking the classes I enjoyed more I was better able to focus and stay motivated. I just excelled in them and it made me happier seeing my success in that. I also think that, especially in science, you can see real-world applications of the subjects you learn in class, which is kind of rewarding. You don\u2019t really get that that much in school, to be honest, so it was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to knuckling down on maths and sciences, Lai found time to have fun at St. Max as well, being a starter on the school\u2019s Senior Boys Basketball Team, a member of their varsity Ultimate Frisbee Team, and a participant in the Specialist High Skills Major in Health and Wellness, \u201cwhich is basically to further your knowledge on that kind of industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This last area of focus will keep him in good stead in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am going to Queen\u2019s for Health Sciences in the fall and I am hoping I will be able to get into medical school,\u201d he said, adding that he is also looking at dentistry as a possibility. \u201cRight now my plans and ambitions will change over time, especially in university, so I will keep an open mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am actually really interested in radiology, looking at x-rays and stuff and my dream job is to be a radiologist. The way radiologists can look at scans and stuff and then immediately diagnose is really cool to me and I feel like if I were to have that job and do it on a daily basis it would be fun and it wouldn\u2019t feel like working. I feel like I would enjoy myself and it would be rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nathan Lai is not the only Aurora student to have made the list of the YCDSB\u2019s 19 Top Scholars of 2022. Also honoured was Matthew Principe of Cardinal Carter Catholic High School, who achieved a 99.33 per cent average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four YCDSB students scored a perfect 100 this year: Sarvanaz Ale Mohammad of St. Robert Catholic High School in Markham, Maya Paladino of Father Bressani Catholic High School in Vaughan, and Giuseppe Carito and Rachel Gaspar, both of Vaughan\u2019s St. Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As he prepares to leave Aurora to pursue his dream of being a doctor, St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School graduate Nathan Lai left his secondary education on a high note \u2013 scoring an impressive final grade average of 99.17 per cent. Lai is one of the York Catholic District School Board\u2019s 2022 Top Scholars. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-28-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8fs","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 09:27:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}