Fatema Riaz is this year's valedictorian for Medicine Hat High School. The top student scored a perfect 100 per cent on her Math 30 diploma exam, and recently found success at the 2025 Canada Wide Science Fair.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
This year’s class valedictorian from Medicine Hat High School has made headlines recently for her research on how to possibly treat bacteria that has become resistant to multiple antibiotics, and says she plans to continue pursuing her passion in clinical research.
Fatema Riaz was notified in May she was the this year’s valedictorian, scoring a perfect 100 per cent on her Math 30 diploma exam, as well as acing her Biology 30 and Chemistry 30 exams last year as a Grade 11 student.
“I felt extremely happy to be recognized,” Riaz said. “I’ve been working really hard all throughout high school. So it’s nice to see it pay off, and I get to do something a little special for our grad … I’m more excited than nervous for the speech.”
Riaz says she draws inspiration to pursue her dreams as a biomedical researcher from her father, who is also involved in science, as well as her family and several teachers.
“They have always encouraged me, they’ve written references for me and let me know about new opportunities when they show up,” explains Riaz. “So it’s all like a collective community effort for me to get to do all these amazing opportunities.
“They are fully there to support me, especially my mom and my dad, but also my sister, she is a year younger than me and she’s kind of like my buddy, we do a lot of our science things together, we kind of figure all this high school stuff out,” laughs Riaz.
One of those opportunities included participating in a six-week high school youth research summer program in 2024 that allowed her to conduct antibiotic resistance research under a biochemistry professor at the University of Lethbridge.
Specifically, Riaz tested how effective different antibiotics are against bacteria, and ribosomes that are growing immune to our current medical treatments.
Earlier this month she presented her more than 200 hours of research on superbugs and was awarded a Senior Gold Medal as one of the 10 best projects at the 2025 Canada Wide Science Fair.
Riaz was also awarded a total of $22,000 in entrance scholarships with several high-profile Canadian post-secondary institutions. She had originally set sights south of the border after she was accepted into a medical research program at UCLA, one of the top programs in the U.S. But she has decided to stay closer to home and will study at the University of Calgary and is excited to attend the Cumming School of Medicine as she moves away from Medicine Hat for the first time.
“So a lot of other kids are also interested in pre-med, which is going to be nice to see. We can share our interests and help each other study,” says Riaz.
“This is something I’m very interested in. There’s a lot of lack of clinical research,” explains Riaz. “We have a lot of scientists working in labs, but another important part of medical research is actually trying it and testing on patients.”
Aside from excelling in academics, Riaz is also an active member of the debate club, a student council member and part of the Spark Club, which promotes STEM disciplines through educational programs. Riaz is also a qualified lifeguard.
Medicine Hat High School graduates will walk the stage June 25.