Linette Lengkeek arrived back in New Zealand on Sunday after spending 10 days on the Asian Science Camp which she was selected for in April. Only 6 students from around New Zealand were selected to attend this prestigious camp which included funding for everything all bar some of the flights.
Linette was one of four Trident students that were nominated to send an application form to the Royal Society of New Zealand to attend the Asian Science Camp. Linette and Ms Nolan (Linette’s Science teacher) wrote testimonials and Linette’s academic results as well as a CV were included in the application. Linette was rapt to have been selected from this process.
During week 1 of Term 3, Linette flew to Hong Kong for 3 days, where along with the five other New Zealand senior high school students and a teacher, she went sight-seeing and got to know the other students before they all took a high speed train to the camp in Shantou, China.
The group of 258 students from mainly Asia and the Pacific, but some from Europe also, stayed at Guandong Technion University for 7 days. The camp hoped to disseminate the spirit of science and enlighten more young people to explore the unknown world.
While on camp, Linette attended lectures from Nobel Prize winners and other Professors including the inventor of artificial cells. One of the days was devoted to a ‘tourist excursion day’ where Linette went to Chen Cihong’s Residence and tried her hand at Chinese embroidery at a Chinese Culture Club.
Linette enjoyed the experience of attending an International Science Camp and learning about Science, different perspectives and discussing ideas that she hadn’t previously explored. The experience in China has cemented the fact she wants to continue with her Science Studies when she leaves high school.
At this stage, Linette is looking at studying Environmental Science and Technology in the Netherlands at Wageningen University & Research. Linette has a brother and sister studying at a different University, but also in The Netherlands, where she has a lot of other family members living.