Rangi Ruru Student to Represent NZ in Bali

2 July 2014 Media Release

Rangi Ruru Student to Represent New Zealand in Bali

The first South Island school student in 25 years to represent New Zealand at the International Biology Olympiad leaves Christchurch today (Wednesday 2 July).

Rangi Ruru Year 13 student Hanseul Nam, has been selected as one of only four students nationwide (and the only female) to attend the competition in Bali which will see more than 60 countries around the world take part.

Hanseul is extremely excited about the competition and winning a place came out of the blue.

I was in shock. I wasn't expecting it, she says. I thought it would be really cool if I did but I was happy to have been a part of the selection process which was an incredible experience in itself.

The exceptionally talented and hardworking student sat a two-hour nationwide entrance exam at the end of last year together with more than 1000 others, after which she was selected to take part in an online training and tutorial programme with 120 students from around the country. Then another exam followed, whittling the number down to 24, who all attended a residential camp in Auckland, during the last school holidays.

Ten days of labs and lectures, it was intense and lots of fun, says Hanseul. She adds that the ten days of labs were equivalent to most of the first year curriculum but obviously not everything! The courses equivocates on more of the practical side of things than the theory.

Over the last couple of days of the camp, students sat another examination and the final four were chosen following that. Two boys from Auckland and one from Wellington make up the full New Zealand team.

Hanseul Nam wants to study medicine when she leaves school; something she has wanted to do since seeing her first episode of TV show, Greys Anatomy.

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Rangi Ruru Student to Represent NZ in Bali