Concord College impressive chemistry challenge results for Shropshire College
Four chemistry students at Shropshire’s renowned international school have achieved an impressive feat – coming amongst only 70 winners of the highest award in a Cambridge University chemistry challenge.
A total of 45 Concord College students are today celebrating success in the challenge, securing an impressive 21 gold awards which put them in the top 15 per cent. There were nine silver and 11 copper successes as well.
Celebrating in particular are the four students who claimed the Roentgenium – the highest award.
The Roentgenium winners from Acton Burnell-based Concord were Jerry, 18, Kevin, 17, Thomas, 17, and Hayden, 16, who were invited to a residential camp at St Catherine’s College (University of Cambridge).
All four students are looking to studying either chemistry, natural sciences or subjects making use of chemistry in other ways such as medicine.
For Hayden, 16, who was in form 5 – Year 11 – when the competition took place, the motivation was to beat his previous score.
He had enjoyed the competition the year before: “I decided to enter because I did it in form 4 which made me discover the fun of Olympiad style questions.
“I got a silver in form 4, so I thought I’d give it another go this year and see if I could get anything better.”
Thomas, 17, explained that the competition was valued by universities as it showed that students had an interest and dedication to the subject as well as knowledge.
“I really enjoyed the practicals in the workshop as they helped me improve my experiment planning and strategic thinking skills. I also liked the teaching labs and the equipment in Cambridge,” he said.
Around 13,000 students from schools across the country entered the competition with Concord achieving a top 70 place – equating to being in the top 0.5 per cent of entrants.
Dr Richard Beard, Concord’s head of chemistry, was delighted with the competition success. “This year we were extremely impressed by our students. This was an improvement on last year and was amongst the best in the country showcasing the chemists at Concord as truly inspiring young minds.”
He added: “We hope the achievements of Jerry, Kevin, Thomas and Hayden will encourage more local students – particularly those with a chemistry penchant - to apply to Concord.”
