WATERLOO — Natalie Lee never got to pursue the education she deserved. But the University of Waterloo has found a way to honour her.

In her name, the school has placed a gleaming piano in the building where Lee planned to study engineering.

It's a replica of the upright piano she played so well growing up in Markham. It's there for anyone to play, in a public space in the atrium.

Lee, 18, was killed by lightning on campus on Sept. 5, 2014. She was caught outdoors in a sudden storm and took shelter under a tree near the Village One student residence she had just moved into. She was in her first year and had yet to take a class.

Lee was a gifted musician and top student, admitted into engineering to study nanotechnology, the science of the smallest things. UW held a memorial last March, attended by her family, and unveiled the piano that the school purchased for $7,000. Her family, mourning privately, declined an interview.

When Lee was 12 she earned first-class honours completing the Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 10 piano exam.

"We were fortunate to welcome her to our faculty," said Pearl Sullivan, dean of engineering. Lee's dream was to design materials that would improve people's lives, Sullivan said.

The memorial held in the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre drew more than 100 students, faculty members and staff. Lee's classmates played the piano. Students are encouraged to take a break from their studies to play it, and to keep Lee's memory alive.

A plaque says: "May her laughter, compassion for people, love for music, passion for science, and dream for a better world through nanotechnology resonate in the melodies of life."

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