Dunstan High School pupil Jared Lewis (17) is one of four chemistry pupils chosen to represent New Zealand at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Cambridge, England, in July.
"It's a spectacular achievement and he's a real all-rounder," Dunstan's science head, Charles List, said.
"Jared's fortunate to be good at lots of subjects and, ironically, chemistry is probably not even his real strength. He's writing computer programs and could choose from a whole range of career options. He is very gifted.
"He's into sports as well and is just a lovely chap - very low-key and self-effacing."
The 41st Olympiad will involve pupils from 70 countries and the event will form part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of Cambridge University.
Last year, Jared and Lewis Williamson, of Dunstan, were among the top 20 pupils in New Zealand chosen to take part in a training camp for potential Olympiad contestants.
Jared attended another training camp in Auckland last week and was chosen after completing two three-hour exams.
He is in year 13, having completed Level 3 chemistry, physics and calculus last year. This year's studies include Canterbury University maths papers and polytechnic computer science.
His school holiday reading includes "three big, fat textbooks" and a swag of preparatory problems for the Olympiad.
Rugby and rowing have had to take a back seat to studies this year.
Jared was part of the Dunstan Arm Rowing Club eight that took part in the Head of the Charles regatta in the United States last October, while two years ago he was a member of Dunstan's bronze-medal-winning under-15 eight at the Maadi Cup.
Jared plans to study engineering at the University of Canterbury next year.
This week, he has been working at Niwa's atmospheric station at Lauder, writing computer software to display climate change data.
One of the principal scientists at Niwa's Lauder base, Greg Bodeker, said Jared was working alongside chemists and physicists at the base.
"Part of our mission this week is to convince Jared he should follow a science career."
