Talented Scientist Wins Olympiad Silver
On Saturday, Karl Paul Parmakson took part in a competitive Chemistry Olympiad to test his skills against some of the brightest students in Estonia, where he is originally from.
The test paper was sent to Science teacher, Ms Ingrid Rolland, who was happy to arrange for Karl Paul to sit the paper under exam conditions at the School. She said, “As a department, we were delighted to facilitate Karl Paul taking part in this competition. It sets a great example for other students and helps Karl Paul to further develop his skills.”
The paper was sent back to Karl Paul’s previous school in Estonia to be marked. Unsurprisingly for those who know Karl Paul’s ability, he came in second in his region, only two marks away from first place. He said of the achievement, “The person who came in first place is at genius level, amazing. I’m not surprised he got first place. I’m happy I did well and was only two marks away.”
This wasn’t the first Olympiad he has taken part in. Karl Paul explains, “In Estonia, Science and Maths Olympiads are very popular. I’ve taken part in two international Olympiads, one which took me to South Korea for two weeks. That was the most exciting; we had three full days of competitions followed by tours around universities and museums. It was a lot of fun.”
In the Olympiad hosted in South Korea, Karl Paul was awarded a silver medal for coming in the top 30 percentile of all international students present at the prestigious event.
The Olympiads are only one of the activities Karl Paul takes part in to stretch his scientific knowledge and understanding; he also regularly attends symposiums with other students and the Headmaster to discuss Theoretical Physics.
So what’s next? Karl Paul doesn’t know. “I’m not certain of what I want to do after I finish my A Levels. I came to the UK to try to find that out. I’m considering universities here and in the USA so I’m still undecided. I think I want to continue in the sciences, maybe with a focus on the natural sciences, but I haven’t picked a specialism yet.”
Whatever career path Karl Paul decides to take, members of the Science Department are sure that he will do well. Headmaster, Mr Mark Dixon, said of Karl Paul, “He is a very promising talent. His Chemistry teacher has commented on how he is a phenomenal young scientist with deep understanding of scientific concepts. He is meeting all academic expectations and we have no doubt that, with his continued hard work, he’ll make excellent progress in all his subjects.”
03 February 2017
