New Zealand competed in the IBO for the first time at the 16th Olympiad in Beijing, China in 2005, Since then we have competed in Argentina in 2006, Canada in 2007 and India in 2008. The New Zealand team to compete in 20th IBO in July this year has just been announced. Max Biggs from Scot’s College (Wellington), Sophia Frentz (Tauranga Girls’ College), Geoffrey Hoggins Kings’ College, Auckland), and Jenny Liu (Burnside High School, Christchurch) will represent us well in Japan!
New Zealand students ‘punch above their weight’ at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) competition. The New Zealand team won 2 Bronze medals in both China and Argentina. An outstanding result for a country new to the IBO and a reflection of the academic caliber of our students.
The China team, 2005: Kate Duggan, Eric Liu (Bronze), Cameron Cole (Bronze), and Chinthaka Samaranayake.
The Argentina team, 2006: Andrew Fu, Norman Quek, James Shand (Bronze) and Karen Jackson (Bronze).
The competition in Canada resulted in our first Silver medal, won by Ryan Yeu who was ranked 42nd in the world, New Zealand’s highest ranking to date at the IBO.
The Canada team 2007: Ryan Yeu (Silver), Bob Li (Bronze), Zoe Henderson, Ruth Bollen (Bronze).
The IBO in India in 2008 was the first time when all four New Zealand team members gained a medal; 3 Bronze medals and a Silver being won at this competition.
The India team 2008: Pen Paterson (Silver), Jessica Shailer (Bronze), Chloe English (Bronze), Amanda Deacon (Bronze).
We must remember however that the NZIBO programme is not just about competing in the international competition each year. It is designed to benefit all of New Zealand’s talented secondary school biologists by encouraging interest, participation, and excellence in biology within New Zealand education. To date over 700 of New Zealand’s top biology students have participated in the NZIBO programme. These students have come from a wide variety of schools from Northland to Otago – we have not yet had any schools from Fiordland, Southland or Stewart Island participate in the NZIBO programme but we hope to extend our geographical reach into these areas in the future! We are particularly proud of the fact that we often have entries of a single student from small secondary schools.
NZIBO takes pride in the fact that schools enter their exceptional students into the programme and see this as a way to motivate and extend their brightest. At our first practical training camp was a student from Dunstan High School. When asked for feedback, he commented that he had gained a lot from the NZIBO programme and that the most important thing for him had been to be in “a room full of people who think and talk like me”. This student sums up the reason why NZIBO is so valuable; we widened his outlook on education, he was inspired and motivated, and he saw biology as an exciting career choice. He went on into tertiary study in biology!
