Gordon Ballantyne, a Grade 12 pupil at Graeme College and winner of the 2009 National Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, has returned from a very successful visit to Sweden.
Gordon Ballantyne, a Grade 12 pupil at Graeme College and winner of the 2009 National Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, has returned from a very successful visit to Sweden.
Gordon entered the 2009 Regional Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in Grahamstown with his project entitled “The possibility of using orb web spiders as a model of the effect of psychoactive compounds (Rooibos tea and Coca-Cola) on humans.”
He won a gold medal, a full scholarship for his first year’s Bachelor of Science degree at Rhodes University and a place as one of the top five finalists at the National Science Expo held in Pretoria in October.
Gordon received a bronze award and was judged as the worthy recipient of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation
Award. He was also awarded the most prestigious award at the National Expo – the Derek Gray Memorial Award.
This award is judged independently of the project to a large extent. The three professors who chose the recipient of the Derek Gray Memorial Award recognised Gordon as a young man with enormous potential to succeed.
Part of this award was a sponsored trip to Sweden where he presented his paper to the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar and had the opportunity to attend the Nobel Awards Ceremony for Physiology or Medicine in December.
The Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar was attended by the top 25 students from 18 countries where Gordon was the only African representative.
Gordon, who hails from the farming community of Adelaide, has been enrolled in Graeme College since 2006.
He entered the Regional Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in 2008 and received a silver medal.
The brilliant young scientist has decided to focus on his studies this year. He hopes to be able to take full advantage of the scholarship offered by Rhodes University and is eager to complete his Bachelor of Science degree.
