Montreal teen tops global chemistry competition

Rama Jamal Alhashemi placed first in the world at the international Avogadro Chemistry Competition.

Solutions and gases are no match for 17-year-old Rama Jamal Alhashemi, who placed first in the world in the international Avogadro Chemistry Competition.

“Today we’re going to be doing a neutralization reaction with 0.1 molar of NaOH sodium hydroxide and one molar of hydrochloric acid, which is HCL,” she explained.

From the moment she set foot in the laboratory, the recent The Study high school graduate was enamoured with periodic elements. She also took a liking to titration experiments - the process of determining the concentration of solutions.

“To know when our titration is over, we’re going to put in some indicator phenolphthalein. So this indicator will make the solution turn pink,” Alhashemi said while demonstrating.

Last month, her skills were put to the test in the international Avogadro Chemistry Competition.

The exam consists of 40 multiple-choice questions on the structure of matter and chemical reactions.

“It’s put on by the University of Waterloo and in the past 37 years, there’s been about 174,000 students across the world who have written the competition,” said Sarah Howard, a senior school science teacher at The Study.

Only “0.2 per cent of those people have achieved what Rama achieved,” Howard added.

Alhashemi placed first in Quebec, first in Canada, first in North America and first in the world.

Her ranking earned her a certificate of distinction and an elemental tile for outstanding achievement.

“It’s an amazing shock,” Alhashemi said.

It’s a reminder that “females can be strong in STEM topics and it’s something that we should be encouraging more,” Howard told CTV.

According to Statistics Canada, women make up less than 30 per cent of those employed in a STEM field.

However, as the soon-to-be CEGEP student gears up for Honours Health Science studies at Marianopolis College, she also plans to explore other interests.

“I’ve been playing the alto saxophone [...] ever since grade six. So I want to continue not only the sciences in the future but keep music on the side as well.”