FOUR IN NICE

In January of this year, a Corporate “Zhas Geolog” Foundation held a selection competition, which was attended by teenagers from across the country. The winners are Gleb Smirnovfrom Oskemen and his three teammates from Astana, Moldir Shyngys, Vladislav Vintenbach and Aruzhan Kalymova. According to the program’s coordinator Nursultan Nurmukhanov, “the Foundation has decided to support the Kazakhstan team of young geologists as a part of the 90 anniversary celebration of an academician and renowned geologist Shakhmardan Yessenov“.

The ninth-grader Aruzhan was taking piano lessons and winning prizes in music competitions since her early childhood. She is also passionate about playing the guitar and is part of the school band. Unexpectedly, she found out that she is interested in Geology too:

— Becoming one of the four lucky winners made me so happy! All these months after the win I have been preparing diligently and discovered a lot. We all look forward to this opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge and we will do our best to introduce Kazakhstan properly to the world — shared Aruzhan.

Another team member — Vladislav — is 17. He is a student of Nazarbayev intellectual school specializing in mathematics and physics. He has already successfully completed several training courses, including ones in English and not only in Kazakhstan. In the summer of 2014, he was a participant of the Discovery Science Workshop in Singapore. Vlad’s portfolio includes several wins in Kazakhstani and Russian competitions and contests related to the Earth Sciences. The guy enjoys soccer and knows karate.

Moldir, like Vlad, is 17 years old. The young lady describes herself as “an ordinary person who likes reading, cycling and spending time with the loved ones.” The girl is fond of music, the violin player and regularly participates in young writers’ competitions. However, according to her, her cup of tea is chemistry and biology.

— I love facing new challenges again and again in order to become stronger, to learn new things and get acquainted with the world and to gain invaluable experience and knowledge. I believe that our team will cope with the tasks of the Olympiad, — said Moldir.

Gleb studies at the Oskemen school-lyceum for children gifted in mathematics, physics and informatics. He has deep knowledge in geology, and is a member of Young Geologist club. He tells us he was really excited about his win in the National contest. Gleb started studying geology in the second grade, and by now he has already completede several research projects. The one that he is working on now is devoted to the study of exogenous processes in East-Kazakhstan region where he is from.

— At the moment our team is actively preparing for the Olympiad: every week we have gather for a class on Skype, which parse a variety of geological topics, learn the terminology, practice English, — Gleb shared with us.

At this stage of his life, he wants to become a geologist. International Olympiad on Earth Sciences covers subjects as Geology, Geophysics, Meteorology, Oceanography and Astronomy. We wish the Kazakhstani team the best of luck in France!