Student to attend science forum

Te Puke High School student Gareth Roderick has been selected to go to the 2016 Rotary National Youth Science Forum in Australia. Photo / George Novak

A Te Puke student has been selected to represent the wider Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke's Bay at an international science forum.

Te Puke High School Year 12 student Gareth Roderick will attend the 2016 Rotary National Youth Science Forum in Australia .

"It was pretty surprising. It was unexpected that I was good enough for Australia. It's a pretty big region [to be selected from]," the 17-year-old said.

He had to submit an application form along with a letter explaining why he wanted to go and a letter of recommendation from a teacher. From that, 200 students were selected to go to the Rotary National Science and Technology Forum in Auckland and six others, one from each Rotary district, were selected to go to the Australian forum in Canberra.

The Australian forum runs across 12 days in January and will involve lectures, labs and field trips in a wide range of subjects.

Days will be filled with an academic programme and in the evenings he will have the chance to visit hi-tech organisations.

Gareth said he planned to pursue a career in the field of science but was not yet sure exactly what shape that would take.

He hoped the forum would help him decide what path he would like to pursue for future study and jobs.

But, science isn't the only thing Gareth excels at. He has consistently achieved excellence grades in maths and English as well as physics, chemistry and biology.

He also plays football, cricket and chess as well as learning the saxophone and piano and studying Spanish.

Every year Rotary NZ takes applications and interviews for the National Youth Science Forum.

Its aim is to promote science as a career and help talented science students excel in the studies and careers of their choice.