National Biology Olympiad Summer School

https://biology.anu.edu.au/files/2015-student-olympiad.jpg
2 February 2015

The Research School of Biology (RSB) hosted the National Biology Olympiad Summer School for 23 talented high-school students in January 2015. The summer school is made up of an intensive 14 day, full-time program of classes and practicals tailored for students who are interested in pursuing a career in Biological Sciences.

To be eligible to participate, each student excelled in a Biology exam that is annually sat by 700-900 hopefuls, so those who attend are some of the brightest in the nation. Together with other teachers from around Australia, Juliey Beckman (First Year Coordinator, Lecturer, RSB Biology Teaching and Learning Centre) has been teaching Biology Olympiad Students for the past 5 years, and with the program moving to ANU this year our Teaching Lab team, Peta Moisis, Melanie Trinick, Tammy Gomersall, Fiona Roxburgh and Yiming Li, were instrumental to the smooth running of the lab classes. Four of the students qualifies to represent Australia at the International Biology Olympiad Competition.

Juliey Beckman has been nominated to accompany the four of Australia's brightest senior high school students, and the Australian Biology Olympiad's Director, Julie Cook (UC), to the International Biology Olympiad to be held at Aarhus University, Denmark in July. The students will participate in friendly competition with Biology students from around the world for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, by completing rigorous practical and theoretical examinations. An intensive course for the preparation of students will be hosted at RSB during the Easter teaching break.