Katherine in Australia’s “Top 5” Team for International Physics Olympiad

Release Date: 08-Jun-2011 | Go Back

Roseville College Year 12 Prefect, Katherine Quail, has been selected as one of five students in the 2011 Australian Team to compete at The International Physics Olympiad in Bangkok this July.

Katherine, whose selection follows her performance at the Asia Pacific (or Asian) Physics Olympiad (APhO) in Israel last month, was presented with her International Olympiad team blazer by The Hon. Peter Garrett AM, MP, at a ceremony  at Parliament House in Canberra on 2 June, last week.

“APhO was fantastic and, in between theory and practical exams in Tel Aviv, Israel, we visited Jerusalem, swam in the Dead Sea, and explored Masada,” says Katherine.

Katherine admits it was disappointing for the Australian team to leave Israel without any medals. “APhO is renowned for being really challenging,” she explains. “Not only are the questions extremely difficult, but  some teams are under enormous expectations and pressure to succeed in the competition... For example; instead of attending school, one team had studied full-time for the past eight months solely for this Olympiad, and one Russian student told me he had practised every past paper issued, not just the more recent ones!”

She says the opportunity to converse with students from 16 other countries, including China, Russia and Israel was eye-opening. “We compared notes about schooling, study expectations and preparations for the Olympiads, and even our hopes for the future,” adds Katherine, who is considering tertiary study in structural engineering and will return from the International Olympiad next month to focus on her pending HSC exams.

“APhO was enriching both culturally and educationally. To compete in Thailand at the International Olympiad, where more than 80 countries will be represented, is going to be simply amazing!”

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Information about the Science Olympiads is available at www.asi.edu.au.

Photographs: Above Katherine and another student tackle a practical challenge at an Olympiad screening camp earlier in 2011. Below: Australian representative for the 2011 Physics Olympiad and Roseville College Year 12 prefect, Katherine Quail, with The Hon. Peter Garrett AM, MP.

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