Olga Wins Gold
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| Olga at the awards ceremony with her UK Tie |
Wallington County Grammar School pupil represented Great Britain
Olga Tkachenko won a coveted place on the British Biology Olympiad Team and has competed in Canada at the International Biology Olympiad in July
The British Biology Olympiad – The Institute of Biology
The British Biology Olympiad is a competition to extend and reward the best all round young Biologists in the country and to select a team to represent the United Kingdom at the International Biology Olympiad each year. At the 2006 IBO in Argentina, Olga was also selected and received a Silver Medal – this year she has won a Gold medal.
Its aims are:
to enable students with an outstanding knowledge and enjoyment of the subject of biology to have this recognised and celebrated by their peers, and their families, teachers and schools;
to promote biology as a subject;
to provide a national competition from which to select a team for the International Biology Olympiad.
The International Biology Olympiad 2007 Team
This year the International Biology Olympiad was held in Saskatoon, Canada in July. Following a rigorous selection process the BBO is proud to announce to British IBO Team:
Gold Medal - Olga Tkachenko - Wallington County Grammar School
Gold Medal - Gonzalo Garcia – St. Paul’s School
Silver Medal - Charles Parker – The Perse School
Bronze Medal - Gregory Lewis – Bishops Wordsworth’s School
The British Biology Olympiad would like to wish them the very best of luck and thank everyone who took part in the exams this year. The team won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
On Monday 2nd July there was an award ceremony, where those who did well in the British Biology Olympiad were presented with medals after a lecture, given by Professor Colin Blakemore, President of the British Biology Olympiad. Additional prizes for the top schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also presented. Olga, along with three others, was awarded the top prize – to represent Great Britian in Canada.
Each year during the first week of February thousands of post 16 Biology students studying "A" Level or vocational awards take a two hour theory paper, consisting of multiple choice and short answer questions. The higest scoring students from the first round are invited to take an additional theory paper. Advanced training and practical tests are then in store for the top 12 students from the first and second round papers. This is held at the University of Birmingham during Easter. Here the students have the opportunity to develop their practical skills. From these results, the selection of the team to represent the UK at the next IBO competition is made. The IBO usually takes place in early July.
Dr. Cath Spencer, Head of Biology at Wallington County Grammar School said “This is a fantastic achievement. Olga has won a coveted place in the International Biology Olympiad Team over thousands and thousands of applicants, many of whom are educated at some of the most prestigious schools in the country. All of us here at Wallington are immensely proud of her achievement and wish her much success in Canada. We will lose Olga this summer she is to read Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge and we wish her much success with her future education.”
