Gurjas Sekhon, 2019 Dux of St John's College, is one of the smartest high schoolers in New Zealand. Photo / Warren Buckland
Gurjas Sekhon, 2019 Dux of St John's College, is one of the smartest high schoolers in New Zealand. Photo / Warren Buckland
One of New Zealand's brightest teens didn't have a teacher at his level at his school, so they gave him an office and let him teach himself.
It worked a treat.
Now St John's College's Gurjas Sekhon, 18, heads to university to study medicine with scholarships in five subjects underhis belt.
His aim is to achieve 100 per cent in his first-year university courses at the University of Otago. Beyond that, overseas study at the likes of Cambridge or Oxford beckons.
Gurjas discovered his academic talent just before high school, around Year 8.
In Year 10, Gurjas was studying NCEA level three calculus, and was a top student, winning the school's calculus cup.
By Year 12, he was studying a mathematics paper from the University of Canterbury from his Hastings classroom.
He achieved 97 per cent in this paper while doing four secondary school scholarship subjects - calculus, chemistry, physics and biology.
In 2019, when Sekhon was in his final year of high school, he studied his second-year university paper in mathematics through the University of Waikato, achieving 98 per cent.
He also took part in the Chemistry Olympiad Competition, where the country's best chemistry students compete.
Making it to the top 10, he narrowly missed out on competing overseas.
Year 13 was a busy year, as he taught himself five scholarship subjects in his own office.
Sekhon would use the office to practice exam questions for his seven scholarship subjects daily, with the ability to seek guidance from teachers whenever he had a question.
This self-motivation is something he thinks will help him at university.
Now finished secondary school, Sekhon will be heading to Otago to study medicine. Photo / Warren Buckland
He won scholarships in five subjects. Sekhon achieved outstanding grades in calculus and chemistry while also succeeding at scholarship physics, biology and physical education.
This put him in the top 50 students in New Zealand.
He has also amassed 350 excellence credits and 16 merit credits in his three NCEA years.
The scholarship subjects, as well as the 2019 Dux award and a scholarship from the University of Otago, have proved to be lucrative for him, although the money will go towards his continued education.
The 18-year-old was congratulated for his academic achievements at a school assembly on Friday, the day before he took off to study medicine in Otago.
"[Medicine] suits my skills, it's academic but it's also about helping the community," he said.
His advice to others hoping to academically achieve: "Have a passion for it, enjoy learning, and keep life balanced."
