Wakatipu High School pupils Olivia Ray (16) and Connor Kennedy (17) will spend three weeks in London, France and Switzerland this winter after impressing the organisers of a national science forum in Auckland last month.
Their school principal, Steve Hall, describes their achievement as "unbelievable", while the pair say the news is just starting to sink in.
The year 13 pupils will be among about 500 high school pupils from throughout the world at the London International Youth Science Forum from July 26 to August 9.
They will then take up the chance to spend a week in Paris and Switzerland, where they will visit the Large Hadron Collider facility near Geneva. It all started when they successfully applied to attend the Rotary National Youth Science and Technology Forum last month.
From the 160 pupils there, they were among six chosen to be interviewed for two Rotary scholarships available for the London science forum.
In something of a coup, they both won scholarships on the strength of their interviews and performance throughout the Auckland forum.
Olivia said they were told later their attitude and personalities had got them the nod — as well as their deft answers to some "weird" left-field questions.
Connor said the news was still sinking in.
"It’s just unreal and I can’t believe I’m going."
The scholarships were worth $6500 each, but they needed to raise several thousand dollars more to pay for the trip.
Mr Hall said it was "absolutely unbelievable" that two pupils from the same school had claimed both scholarships.
However, Olivia and Connor were "go-getters" who had clearly won over their interviewers with their combination of knowledge and personality.
Their work ethic and sense of curiosity had taken them this far, and the London forum would expand their horizons further.
"This is one of those rare opportunities and experiences in life that could be a stepping stone to who knows what.
"They may look back in 20 or 30 years’ time and see it as a turning point in their lives."
Both have particular interests in physics and biology, and plan to study a branch of engineering at university in Auckland or Christchurch next year.
