King's College Student Wins New Zealand Neuroscience Competition

Sixteen year old Stephen Mackereth from King's College in Auckland is New Zealand's 2008 Brain Bee Champion after an exciting playoff of neuroscience knowledge at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane.

Stephen battled his way through two rounds of testing neuroscience questions, an anatomy exam and a doctor-patient diagnosis test, all the while displaying outstanding knowledge of brain function and disease, and impressing the judges with his intellectual muscle.

As winner of the New Zealand Brain Bee, Stephen is now illegible to compete at the International Brain Bee Challenge next year in America.

ABBC National Coordinator, Associate Professor Linda Richrds siad the Brain Bee remained one of the most important and exciting programs on the neuroscience calendar because it had become the 'showcase' for the brightest young minds in neuroscience.

"The Brain Bee encourages secondary school students to learn about the brain, and helps to raise the profile of neurosceince research and neurological and psychiatric disorders and diseases facing our community," Dr Richards said.

"A goal of the Brain Bee Challenge is to promote science as a career with a particular focus on neuroscience."

Stephen Mackereth looks much the same as any othe ryoung man his age. But in what might be a clue to his inner strengths, he admits a passion for learning "almost anything".

"My favourite subjects have always been maths and the sciences, but I enjoy languages too," he said. "I've studied Latin and Spanish, and I'm currently trying to teach myself Ancient Greek."

With the support and assistance of neuroscientists in Australia and New Zealand, the ABBC introduces a wide cross section of young people to neuroscience often called the final frontier, in a positive environment that encourages and rewards excellence.

The New Zealand Coordinator of the Brain Bee Challenge, Associate Professor Louise Nicholson, siad it was exciting to have New Zealand represented for the first time at the International Brain Bee Challenge.

"All of us here in New Zealand, including our major sponsors, the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand and the CatWalk Trust, are thrilled at the way our schools have taken on the Brain Bee Challenge," Dr Nicholson said.

'The event, now run in both Auckland and Otago, can only grow as the interest and enthusiasm rises across the country."

Stephen Mackereth will represent New Zealand at the International Brain Bee final in Baltimore, Maryland in 2009.