Science wizard invited to London

LUKAS De Waal, Star College Grade Seven learner, has always had a passion for science and regularly explains things, stating, ‘It’s just science’.

Coming from Gelofte Skool, Lukas thought he might struggle with the English first language taught, but the transition was a gentle one where he ended up achieving 92% for English home language.

He excels in his science as he achieved 92%; he passed technology with 100% and received a mark of 96% for mathematics. In his short time at Star College, Lukas has achieved great results with an overall average of 87.3%.

Also read: Star College learners enjoy international Olympiad

Dr Kershan Naicker, the schools’ head of Olympiad committees and physical science educator, quickly noticed Lukas’ talent and love for science.

He has been training him every week at the science Olympiad classes held at Star College, and he was quickly selected as a member of the Olympiad. He is also in the Mathematics Olympiad Team.

“Lukas is an active and engaging learner. He was taught work at a much higher level – Grade Nine and Grade 10 work. He grasped the concepts the first time and achieved full marks for his practice test.”

It was based on this and his stellar performance at school that he was selected to participate in the Olympiad in London.

He has been selected to represent his school and country at the prestigious International Greenwich Science Olympiad (IGO) to be held in London from June 11 to 18. The mission of IGO is to create a collaborative yet competitive environment in which students can present their innovative ideas to take on today’s challenges in energy, engineering, and environment, which will ensure a sustainable world for tomorrow.

“The objective of IGO is to spark interest and awareness in our planet’s sustainability challenges; to help young people grasp the extent of these issues; to find workable solutions to these challenges, and to accelerate the progress toward a sustainable world by engaging youth at an early age.

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“IGO promotes engineering inventions and energy efficiency/management discoveries, which will nurture environmentally friendly technology concepts in secondary education,” explained Dr Naicker.

The humble, shy but focused Lukas said he was one of the lucky few to be chosen to go to the Greenwich Natural Science Olympiad in London, England, this year.

“It is both a privilege and opportunity for me to enter this science Olympiad. This is very important to me as I want to use my knowledge in the future to support my family financially and to prove that I am now able to do things on my own and can support myself in life. I am very interested in becoming an engineer or architect in the future but hope that my choice of career allows me to travel our beautiful country.”

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