In June this year, Auckland student, Stanley Zhang flew off to Vienna to represent New Zealand at the 2024 International Brain Bee NextGen.
As an Auckland Grammar School student, Stanley won the 2022 New Zealand Brain Bee Championship. He went further in 2023, placing second in the 2023 International Brain Bee World Championships. That win secured his place at the NextGen event alongside fellow participants from Hong Kong, Iran, Canada, and Poland.
The International Brain Bee was founded in 1998 to inspire students to study and pursue a career in neuroscience. It now attracts more than 25,000 competitors from 40 countries across the world – including New Zealand.
CatWalk, proud sponsor of the New Zealand Brain Bee Challenge since 2009
The first New Zealand Brain Bee Challenge took place in 2008. Recognising its importance, CatWalk became a key sponsor the following year and has continued to fund the challenge ever since.
Every year, students from more than 55 New Zealand schools take part, testing their knowledge in a series of quiz events. The first round of online challenges culminates in the North Island and South Island finals. The winners, then compete against their Australian counterparts for the Australasian title.
The 2024 New Zealand individual titles were taken out by Janie Kim from Macleans College, Auckland, and Medha Baadker from St Andrews College, Dunedin. We send our warmest congratulations to them both. Maybe we’ll see them joining the Spine Squad in the future.
CatWalk Trustee and international Brain Prize winner, Martyn Goulding, was on hand at the North Island finals to congratulate the team event winners, St Cuthberts College.
