Three Stanford Lake College pupils have been offered scholarships to Rhodes University after winning the Scifest Africa Science Quiz in December.
Early in 2020, four Stanford teams took part in the first round of the quiz. The competition is open to all high schools in South Africa and two of Stanford's teams placed in the top four teams in the country. Team one consisted of Muaaz Bhyat (Class of 2020), Stefan Otto (Class of 2021) and Owen Venter (Class of 2020) and team two consisted of Danica Altenroxel (Class of 2020), Juan Botha (Class of 2020) and Reuben Middleton (Class of 2021). Both Stanford teams were invited to the Scifest Convention in Grahamstown to participate in a final face-off between the top four teams. Due to COVID-19, the festival was postponed and the competition was moved online. Over the December holidays, the top four teams came together on Zoom and competed in a quiz consisting of 42 questions covering all the sciences from Biology and Physics to Astronomy and Maths. The stakes were high with the first prize being a scholarship to Rhodes University.
Stanford team number 1 (Muaaz, Stefan and Owen) narrowly beat Grey College for first place and Stanford team number 2 (Danica, Juan and Reuben) placed fourth. When asked about the quiz, Owen said, “It was an amazing experience that really tested our knowledge and I would encourage anyone who enjoys science to form a team and give it a shot.”
