High school work experience programs sometimes send students to wood shops or insurance offices, but a small-town teenager has landed a more high powered gig — at Saskatoon's sprawling synchrotron.

Top researchers from around the world use the facility every day to look at matter at the sub-atomic level.

Synchrotron researcher Ian Coulthard said Grade 12 student Sarah Thiesson has a good grasp of scientific concepts.
(David Shield/CBC)

Lately, they've been joined by Sarah Theisson, a straight-A student from the village of Clavet, population 350, located about 29 kilometres southeast of the city.

The $173-million, 2.9-gigaelectron-volt facility, also called the Canadian Light Source, whips up particles with giant magnets to create a highly pure, highly powerful form of light.

The light is piped down a variety of "beamlines" for scientist to do their work.

Theisson is currently helping researchers prepare a new beamline.

It doesn't hurt that she received near-perfect marks in her math and science courses last year.

Thiesson said she's learned a lot working at the synchrotron and plans to continue her science career after she graduates.

"[I'm] looking forward to getting into a science program where I could do something like this in the future," she said.

Ian Coulthard, a researcher at the synchrotron, called Thiesson "an extremely bright individual" who's great to work with.

"She has a very good grasp of concepts, so you don't have to explain anything to her twice," he said. "She makes very good intuitive leaps to asking the right questions that follow on to what she's been taught."

Thiesson will continue her work at the synchrotron until the program wraps up in December.