Teacher in Charge of Chemistry and Director of Advanced Learning Programmes, Ms Indra Basi, reports on our team's success.

A team from HBHS placed a very close second to Pukekohe High School in the annual New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (NZIC) Analytical Chemistry Competition held at the University of Waikato on the 22nd of June.  As it was not possible to hold this event last year, there were a record number of teams entered from across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Regions.

The competition provides an opportunity for some of our budding chemists in Year 13 to spend a day in one of the Chemistry laboratories at the University.  They are able to experience working in an environment with equipment and resources far beyond what is encountered at school and also get a taste of the subject at a tertiary level.

Although there is considerable rivalry to attain the trophy, the main emphasis of the competition is for students to enjoy the experience.  This year the teams (of four students) undertook both a volumetric and gravimetric analysis.  The difference between the first and second placed teams was only 0.001g.  Hence our boys can be very proud of their achievement.

Warm congratulations to our winning team of Drishya Patel, Sulaiman Bahiss, Thomas Spaans, and Myles Landon, who I am sure will spend their monetary award wisely.