TOP Physical Science student, Damien Naidoo, jetted off to India to compete in the 46th annual International Physics Olympiad (IPHO) from Saturday, 4 July to Monday, 13 July.
The Grade 11 Star College pupil is one of five to have gone through a selective process to be shortlisted and have made it to the finals of these competitive assessments. “The contestants have to be below 20 (years old) and have no tertiary level education. We wrote the National Science Olympiad last year and 12 of us were shortlisted, we then wrote a final selection test this year in March and the numbers were reduced even further to five,” he explained.
Naidoo will be writing the Olympiad in Mumbai, India as a member of the South African International Physics Olympiad team.
“I am excited about the trip. This is my second international trip. My previous one was in Argentina in December, at the International Junior Science Olympiad where I won a bronze medal,” he said. Naidoo explained that through the guidance and supervision of the Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Mervlyn Moodley as their team leader, he hopes to do even better this time around, “…because we worked really hard so hopefully it’ll pay off,” he added.
“We are very proud of his achievements and excited that he is getting an opportunity to travel the world at such a young age, and also representing the country is just awesome,” exclaimed Naidoo’s mother Judy. He sacrificed his weekends and school holidays to achieve his accolades, which include many maths award wins in provincial contests; he is a KZN level chess player and also captain of his school’s volleyball team.
“He is intrinsically motivated, a quality which we admire. He strives to do his best at all times. As parents we are very supportive of that and are grateful to Star College for exposing our children to the various Olympiads and assisting them with the preparation,” Judy added. She and Naidoo’s father, Lawrence, believe that teaching and learning goes beyond the classroom.
“As parents, acknowledge your child’s potential. Just being there for your child makes all the difference,” she advised.
