Wellington wins Brain Bee Challenge
18 June 2009

Students from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington proved their worth in the annual Brain Bee Challenge at The University of Auckland yesterday, winning both the individual and team challenges.

Kate Burgess was awarded first place in the individual competition, and together with Kimberley Low, Emily Hayward, and Avantika Singh, also won the team challenge. Kate will now go on to represent the North Island in a National New Zealand and Australian Brain Bee Challenge in early 2010.

“This is the first year we have been able to offer the competition nationwide, and we’re delighted that Wellington has done so well” says Brain Bee organiser Associate Professor Louise Nicholson from The University of Auckland.

Second place in the individual competition went to Robert Zhang of Auckland Grammar School, and third place to Ryan Lim-Yip of Massey High School. In the team event, St Cuthbert’s College won second place, Epsom Girls Grammar School third and Onehunga High School fourth.

The annual competition saw Year 11 secondary students tested on their knowledge of the brain. Questions ranged from anatomy and neurochemistry to those covering emotions, intelligence, and brain diseases. Students also visited active neuroscience laboratories, and heard from leading neuroscientist Professor Richard Faull about the excitement and challenges of the human brain.

“The event is not only fun but introduces a very different way of looking at and approaching science,” says Professor Nicholson. “It also shows that The University of Auckland is a great place to be a scientist. These students are some of the very brightest in the country. We want to encourage them to consider science, and in particular neuroscience as a career, and hope to see them back at the University in the near future.”

More than 160 students from 42 secondary schools around the North Island took part in the event. The excitement and tension built throughout the day as individual students and teams competed in a series of elimination rounds and finally answered sudden-death tie-breaker questions.

Individual competitors were vying for a place at the National Australia-New Zealand Brain Bee Final, to be held in Sydney early next year. The winner of that event will have the opportunity to compete in the International Brain Bee in the United States in 2010.

Other prizes for individual students included gift vouchers from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, electronic prizes, and neuroscience text books for their schools. In the team event, students competed for Zeiss microscopes and neuroscience teaching resources and trophies for their schools. All place-winners also took home electronic equipment such as walkmans, digital cameras, DVD players and slim-line microsystems.

Stephen Mackereth of Kings College, who won last year’s Auckland Brain Bee and was named New Zealand Brain Bee Champion at the Australian and New Zealand competition, took part on the day. He welcomed the students and spoke about the unique opportunities offered by the competition, including seeing neuroscience research in action. He will compete in the International Brain Bee challenge in Toronto, Canada in August this year.