A torch created by Camosun College students will soon be a part of the B.C. Summer and B.C. Winter Games. It was proudly lit for the first time Thursday (April 7) in front of an audience at the college’s Interurban campus.
A partnership between the B.C. Games Society and Camosun Innovates – the applied research department at the school – helped bring the capstone project to life by supporting four mechanical engineering students who initiated and led the project.
Camosun Innovates provided the students the resources to build and test the torch.
The visual aspect of the torch was created by Indigenous artist and Namgis First Nation member Jamin Zuroski. Bands of cedar were woven into the carbon fibre shell – cedar weaving is an ancient Indigenous practice.
Student Lacey Reay spearheaded the project, taking the idea of the torch through to actualization.
“The goal was to make it a more robust flame and something that was going to be safe, reliable and durable that maintained burning for real-world use,” she said. “The capstone design ticked those boxes and my job at Camosun Innovates has been to make it more refined, and to enhance the overall mechanics behind the design to improve the refuelling mechanism and to make it as user-friendly as possible.”
The torch will be used at the B.C. Summer Games in Prince George from July 21 to 24 and the B.C. Winter Games in Greater Vernon from March 23 to 26, 2023.
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