Maths boffin hits the mark

Kingsway High School maths boffin, Shaun Schoeman has been placed in the top 100 in South Africa and neighbouring countries for the Maths Olympiad for the second consecutive year.

He was also the top KZN Mintek Minquiz winner and last week represented KZN in a national Mintek competition. The grade 12 pupil participated in the third round of the Maths Olympiad on Thursday, 26 July and eagerly awaits his results.

“Maths is my life. I’m confident going into round three. I don’t train or prepare for it, I just go and wing it. That has always worked for me. Most of the competitors go for private training but I prefer to do my own thing.”

Shaun does private maths tutoring for grades 8 to 12.

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He has been accepted to the University of Cape Town next year to study computer science. “I want to get into programing and make things, either in AI (artificial intelligence) or VR (virtual reality).

The 17-year-old started school a year earlier than most and did grade 3 to 7 at Warner Beach Prep. He is a prolific piano player, having been awarded SA colours and scooping five gold medals at Talent Africa. “Playing piano is more of a hobby for me.”

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He is also a top chess player who made the KZN squad all seven years of primary school. He now only plays for his school.

“I was also part of Twini Scouts for 10 years. I was never a good Scout but I did make it to adventurer, which is second out of five advancements. Scouts taught me a lot. In grade 8 I was one of only two troop leaders, which taught me leadership skills from a young age.”