However, a large price tag is holding him back.
King’s High School year 13 student Luan Peterle, 16, is the first student from his school to be selected to represent New Zealand at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO), where he would compete against 300 other students from around the world in different biology topics.
However, the opportunity comes with a $10,000 price tag, which is proving difficult — Luan has contacted 20 trusts and organisations in the hope of securing the funds, only to receive two tentative maybes and 18 straight no’s.
This year, the competition is being held in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
Luan entered three prestigious global biology competitions — the Barcelona International Youth Science Challenge, the London International Youth Science Forum and the IBO — not expecting to be accepted in all three.
However, due to clashes in dates and the high fees, he has had to choose which one he will compete in.
He chose the IBO for the chance to not just represent himself, but also New Zealand.
‘‘We have to go for gold ... you know, shoot for the skies,’’ Luan said.
Luan will be part of a team of four from around New Zealand, which also includes Alex Brinkworth, a year 12 student from Central Southland College in Winton.
Luan said his biology teacher, Vicki Jopson, had helped him get to where he was.
‘‘She’s given me a lot of support in terms of practice, and we’ve got a really great lab technician, Emma Curtin, here.
‘‘The biology Olympiad, unfortunately, has basically no correlation with NCEA, so everything that I’ve had to learn is basically completely brand-new to me.’’
The next and hardest hurdle to clear is raising $10,000 to get to Lithuania.
‘‘It’s not as simple as I had hoped it would be — a lot of the places that I’ve spoken to about funding said they don’t fund overseas travel.
‘‘It just shut down immediately, which is a bit disheartening, you know, having to email 20 places and getting two saying, ‘Oh, maybe we can help’.’’
So far, he has raised $3000 — $2000 from the Dunedin Harbour Rotary Club and $1000 from the King’s High School PTSA committee.
