TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan students won six gold medals at the International Junior Science Olympiad in Bucharest, Romania on Wednesday and took second place overall among 52 competing countries.
Since Taiwan began participating in the IJSO in 2004, the country has consistently performed well, achieving first place in the overall national rankings 12 times, per the Ministry of Education. This year, six students were selected to compete, and all of them were awarded gold medals at the awards ceremony on Wednesday.
Fan Yi-yang (范奕揚), a first-year student at Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School, won four individual awards: first place in chemistry, first in biology, best theory award, and highest overall score award.
Fan told local media that his motivation for competing was not to gain extra academic credits but to accomplish something great with his teammates and to improve his skills.
Fan is still contemplating his career goals, perhaps as an engineer or chemist. However, regardless of the path he chooses, he hopes to continue advancing in science and contributing to humanity's progress.
“I don’t need to be the brightest moon, I just want to be one of the countless twinkling stars that brighten others,” he said.
The other five gold medalists were:
- Chang Ting-chen (張庭溱) from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School
- Chang Kai-chuan (張凱全) from Cornell Bilingual School in Taoyuan
- Hsu Ting-jui (許庭睿) from Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School
- Wang Chuan-i (王銓毅) from National Chiayi Senior High School
- Lo Tzu-yao (羅子堯) from Tainan First Senior High School
The ministry said that students on the national team are guaranteed admission to the high school of their choosing. Those who win gold, silver, and bronze medals can also receive scholarships of NT$200,000, NT$100,000, and NT$50,000 respectively from the education ministry.
