We write a lot about the achievements of young Vancouverites in the Courier. Frankly it's depressing.
Rex Chen is the latest person we've profiled and, like so many other young people in this city, he's amazing. Still 14, he's finishing a program based at UBC that allows him to complete high school in two years. In September, when he turns 15, he'll return to UBC as a university student. That's enough to make the profile by education reporter Cheryl Rossi one of my top picks from the Courier this week.
Chen is smart. I thought I was smart when I was 15, and I was. But not Chen smart. I was playing Squad Leader at that age and watching a lot of TV. He designed a solar-powered desalination plant. He published a paper about this project in a Harvard publication about school-aged scientists. This summer, he'll compete a six-week research stint at TRIUMF.
Did I mention I played Squad Leader?
That leads to our Prospects series in sports, in which we profile up and coming high school athletes on their way to post-graduation athletic careers. If Chen makes me feel less than smart, these fantastic young people make me feel physically inept. Emma von Dadelszen is among the latest we've profiled and one of my favourites. She's a nationally top ranked fencer and like all the other athletes is driven and smart. And a fencer, which is simply cool. That makes her profile my second story of the week.
Finally, for my third story, Kudos and Kvetches, always smart and driven, imagines future CBC scandals in the wake of Solomon and Ghomeshi. Seems the Friendly Giant was not always so.
