The 2009 International Biology Olympiad took place at Tsukuba, Japan 12-19 July. The students representing New Zealand were (left to right) Max Biggs (Scott’s College, Wellington), Sophia Frentz (Tauranga Girls’ College), Geoffrey Hoggins (King’s College, Auckland) and Jenny Liu (Burnside High, Christchurch).
The team was rewarded with it's highest ranking ever; Our top student came 35th out of 221 students. New Zealand came away with one silver and two bronze medals.
Above: Andi Liu meeting a takahe on Matangi Island, during the IBO training camp.
From Zeong Kang, a participant at the 2009 training camp: “The IBO camp was incredible. Not only was it congenial and enjoyable, but also extremely educative. I especially enjoyed the trip to Tiritiri Matangi and learning about animal behaviour and conservation ecology. I believe the camp provides students like myself an opportunity to aggregate with likeminded high schoolers from all over the country, and by competing with each other, we gain a tremendous amount of knowledge that will certainly help us in our curriculum should it be whether NCEA, Cambridge or IB. All in all, the IBO camp is by far the best camp I have ever been in, and possibly will ever attend, in my life. It has been a privilege to have been able to be there, and I will cherish the memories forever.”
Below, Geoffrey Hoggins at the practical training camp in 2008 (credits to University of Waikato for the photo).
