High school student triumphs at science awards

Education Minister Hekia Parata has congratulated Orewa College’s Jennifer Palmer on becoming the first school student to take top honours at the Sir Paul Callaghan EUREKA! Awards.

Jennifer, a year 12 student, won the $10,000 Premier Award for a 12 minute presentation ‘Synthetic Biology – Engineering the Future’. She was one of six secondary school and six university students chosen as finalists for the awards.

“Jennifer’s victory is fantastic recognition for her hard work and that of her teachers,” says Ms Parata. “It shows what our students and our schools are capable of. ” 

The awards recognise excellence in communication about science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the winners were announced last night at a dinner hosted by The Governor-General, Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae and his wife Lady Janine Mateparae at Government House.

In addition to becoming the first school student to win the top prize in the four years of the awards, Jennifer is also the first female to win the top prize.

The Ministry of Education Gold Scholarship for the best presentation by a Māori secondary school student went to Reiana Cooper, who studies with Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, for her talk “Little cells, Big possibilities: The importance of continuing stem cell research”.

The Ministry of Education Gold Scholarship for the best presentation by a Pasifika secondary school student went to Sinai Tominiko of Otahuhu College for his talk “Increase the numbers of Māori and Pasifika general practice doctors”.