Student's future is written in the stars

OUTSTANDING: Former Whangarei Boys' High School student Shintaro Fushida-Hardy.PHOTO/JOHN STONE

A Northland student who eventually wants to discover the secrets of the universe has used his passion for science to become one of the top scholars in the country.

Shintaro Fushida-Hardy, 18, was surprised to learn he was only one of 10 to gain a 2014 New Zealand Scholarship Premier Award - worth $30,000.

"It was really surprising," he said. "I didn't even think I would get a scholarship."

On top of the regular NCEA exams, students can sit scholarship exams which gives them the opportunity for money to go towards tertiary study and recognition for gaining scholarship.

In the end, Shintaro got not one but four outstanding scholarships, even better than a regular scholarship, in calculus, chemistry, Japanese and physics.

That success put him in line for the Premier Award which gives the top 10 students $10,000 over three years of tertiary study. Next week he will leave for Auckland University, where he will study a bachelor of science.

"A lot of people are saying that I should do medicine or engineering but I want to do what I am passionate about," Shintaro said.

At this stage he plans to pursue cosmology, the branch of physics and astrophysics that studies the physical origins and evolution of the universe.

"I want to find out how the universe began, basically," Shintaro said. "It's the root of everything - It's really interesting."

Despite his success Shintaro admits he did not always work the hardest.

"I don't study much," he said. "I study a lot during exams but during the year I procrastinate."

Despite this he got 137 credits in NCEA level three and all but five were excellence.

He partially attributed his success to moving to Whangarei Boys' High School at the start of 2014 from Huanui College.

At Huanui he got good grades in the Cambridge International Examinations, which he said he enjoyed. However, moving to a new school meant he felt he had to try harder.

He also attributed his success to his teachers, particularly his physics teacher Mr Kumar. "He made us feel like it was possible to do well in scholarship exams."