During the 2016-17 school year Miki Rowbottom was a Grade 12 student at Maple Ridge Secondary School (MRSS). During her three years in Maple Ridge, she has been involved with the school and the community in many ways through her passions of sports, science, and helping others.
She was born in British Columbia but soon moved to Tokyo, Japan and lived there until the age 15. Then, she moved back to Maple Ridge and started school at MRSS in Grade 10.
Miki captained her MRSS team that placed second overall at the UBC Physics Olympics. Her organization skills and her leadership were on display as they competed in multiple heats: pre-build events, quizzes, and experiments.
With her experience in science, she volunteered at the UBC Youth Phenomenal Physics Camp during two weeks of summer where she taught and assisted as the kids participated in experiments, activities, and classes. Over the last year and a half, she has been tutoring math once a week for a current Grade 7 student. By preparing the materials beforehand and figuring out his learning style, she tries to use different techniques to keep it a fun and productive tutoring session.
Miki also leads many activities as part of the MRSS HOPE Club as well. This includes raising awareness for different causes and doing fundraisers for organizations and individuals.
Her passion for sports has always been a big part of her life. Miki started soccer at a younger age and as she progressed through high school she chose to focus exclusively on another sport, wrestling. After the influence of her dad and her coach, Bill McCrae, she quickly got addicted and strived to become better. Through her practices with the school and club, she invested a lot of time into wrestling. As a captain of the school wrestling team, she became an inspiration to many young wrestlers and shared her passion of wrestling. In 2017, she became a provincial champion at the 57kg weight class, one of the most competition-rich weight classes in BC.
After graduation, she will wrestle for the University of Regina while pursuing her education in engineering. With her experiences and knowledge, she would like to engineer products that will help people, community, and the world.
About Leaders of Tomorrow
The Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District (SD42) has teamed up with the Maple Ridge News to celebrate local students who are making a difference at school and in the community. Elementary and secondary students featured as Leaders of Tomorrow were picked by their principals for making positive achievements in academics, sports, arts and community involvement.
The list is just a sample of outstanding students in the school district selected by their school during the 2016/17 school year – there are many others who were equally deserving of recognition for their exemplary achievements both inside and outside the classroom.
Every Tuesday throughout the school year, SD42 will profile a student selected as one of the 2017 Leaders of Tomorrow. 