STAR College principal, a few staff members and 22 learners, attended a function held in the parlour of The Honourable Deputy Mayoress of eThekweni Municipality, Councillor Fawzia Peer, recently.
The function was hosted by her in lieu of the accolades and recognition that Star College attained locally, nationally and internationally in the fields of academics and Olympiads.
Matriculant Uluthando Jili described how she represented the school and South Africa in Indonesia in 2016 in the (IJSO) International Junior Science Olympiad and was the first female from South Africa to earn a bronze medal at the Olympiad.
In September 2017, she represented South Africa in Birmingham and, on her return to South Africa, competed in the National Science Expo and won a gold medal.
Another matriculant, Sashen Naidoo, spoke about his trip to Romania, where he competed in the Infomatrix Project Olympiad.
At the Olympiad he presented a high-level efficiency irrigation system which won him a gold medal in the hardware control category and the best overall project. He was accompanied by Ayush Chunilall. Tharanya Pillay, a Grade 10 learner, received an honourable mention at this Olympiad. Colwyn Thomas and Shravan Mahadev who formed another team received a bronze medal.
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Yasteel Bharat Bhima, together with nine other learners, represented the school and South Africa at Kenya in the Golden Climate Project Award. Nineteen countries were represented here and 201 projects were constructed. The learners brought back five gold medals, four silver medals and a bronze.
Tharanya Pillay, a Grade 10 learner, said she had been competing in Olympiads, both at regional, national and international levels. In 2016, she competed in the regional Eskom Olympiad and won a gold medal. She then competed at national level in the International Science Fair in Gauteng and received an honourable mention.
She also appeared on national television where she participated in the Nickelodeons Genius Game Show. In 2017, she attended the Infomatrix Project Expo with Grade 12 learners and presented a project on a 3D articulated intelligent robot in the category hardware control. She won a silver medal for her efforts. She also attended the Genius Olympiad in New York and received an honourable mention.