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From left: coach Eric Li, students Max Long, William Zhang, and Jimbo Cai, and teacher sponsor Rakshin Kandola.

Photo courtesy Eric Li

Students competing in geography challenge

By Hannah Scott

Published 11:56 PST, Fri February 24, 2023

Last Updated: 2:34 PST, Fri February 24, 2023

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Three Richmond students are among the top 20 at the Canadian Geographic Challenge.

Grade 11 students Jimbo Cai and William Zhang and Grade 12 student Max Long are being coached by Eric Li—who competed and ranked in the top 10 participants last year—and teacher Rakshin Kandola.

“Something that motivated me to do the challenge was personal interest,” says Cai. “When I first heard about the challenge, I was quite curious and intrigued about the competition and decided to try it out. In school I am taking International Baccalaureate (IB) Geography as a subject, so doing this challenge was also to expand on my knowledge.”

Cai adds that training includes lessons in geography as well as resources for independent study.

Zhang says time is the biggest challenge, particularly when balancing his schoolwork in the IB program.

“I spend most of the time practicing usually late at night when I’m done my schoolwork—this means I have to be more efficient with my schoolwork; you can’t take too much time,” he says.

Long is grateful for the help of Kandola and Li, and says the preparation process has allowed him to engage with geography and nurture his passion.

“When Eric was captain of the Science Team, he was able to lead us to third place in the province-wide Kwantlen Science Challenge—despite our high school historically ranking near the bottom in these competitions. I feel that his drive to represent Richmond Secondary well despite little to no resources is certainly very admirable and has been a driving force behind our motivation,” says Long.

He encourages other students to try their hand at the challenge if they’re interested.

“The competition really broadened my scope and my view of what geography is and a lot of what geography involves,” says Long. “Something I might tell others is to always be open and receptive to new information and knowledge about geography, and this will help not only to be more prepared for the challenge but also just to open our minds to geographical information.”

The students recently completed a written test at their school, adjudicated by Kandola with Li also present to help troubleshoot.

Both Cai and Zhang said they would be interested in competing again next year, and added that they appreciate the new knowledge they’ve gained through preparing for the challenge.

“Working with Ms. Kandola has certainly taught me a lot about perseverance. I have always admired how Ms. Kandola essentially (works) three full-time jobs. The first one (is) being one of the most passionate teachers of the most rigorous geography curriculum, Higher Level International Baccalaureate Geography. The second job (is) working tirelessly to plan and run large events that educate students about sustainability and reconciliation. And finally, being a mother of two young boys,” says Li.

“If you want to get involved, make sure that you have a strong teacher to help you out—that’s been Ms Kandola.”

Kandola says geography is crucial knowledge for students, and that this challenge is a great way for students to get excited about the subject.

“I hope to see more Richmond teachers encouraging students to participate in this challenge, (which) is open to students in grades four to 12,” says Kandola. “It’s a great way to ignite passion early in students' academic careers and for them to learn more about Canada and the world.”

She adds that having three students from the same school in the top 20 is a huge achievement.

“Eric has been a trailblazer for our school community in bringing and winning in the (Canadian Geographic) Challenge. Eric has also been helping graduating students with their scholarship applications,” she says.