Josiah ‘t Hart and Daniel Vleugel from the Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium in Groningen will go to Bangkok in December to participate in an international scientific competition.
The 15-year-old boys won the national preliminary round of the International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) last weekend. This is a competition for the very best students in the fields of biology, physics and chemistry.
Earlier they reached another final place. In September they will participate in the National Mathematical Olympiad at Eindhoven University of Technology. “Chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology are just beautiful subjects. We pick up the material quickly”, says Daniel.
Two thousand students
The IJSO is for HAVO and VWO students aged 15 or younger. ,,Two thousand students took part in the first preliminary round, which was held at their own schools,” says Daniel. ,,Saturday in Nijmegen, during the national final, we were 21 candidates. We had to solve problems with practicals and there was a theoretical part.” The two were supervised by, among others, mathematics teacher Augustijn Pool and chemistry teacher Nanja van Berkum.
The third graders got more than enough points. Josiah took first place. I came fifth. The top 6 can go to Bangkok.”
At least three hundred young people from fifty countries will participate in the world final. Daniel is thrilled to be able to go to Thailand. “We will definitely explore the city.”
Schoolmate Imre Bekkering, who finished third with his team in Bogota last year, guided the boys. “Of course he knows exactly what to expect and what to take into account.”