The awarded students collected their prizes at Charles Darwin Room of the Inter-Faculty Rooms, located in Burjassot Campus of the Universitat de València. The prizes consist of a financial envelope for studying worth 1,000€. The students shall receive this money once they have enrolled in the first year of any undergraduate degree of the Universitat de València.
The event counted on the presence of Mª Vicenta Mestre, principal of the Universitat de València; Inmaculada García Robles, vice-dean of Quality of the Faculty of Biologic Sciences; Benjamín Pérez Rocher, representative of the Official Association of Biologists of the Valencian Community, Miguel V. Pardo, coordinator of the Geology Olympiad and Mª José Lorente, coordinator of the Biology Olympiad and delegate for University Integration.
This year, ten students have been awarded in the XV Biology Olympiad and three in the IX Geology Olympiad. In total, 316 biology students and 188 geology students attended the Olympiads, in their last year of sixth form and coming from public and private high schools of the province of Valencia.
These Olympiads are organised by the Faculty of Biologic Sciences and the Delegation for University Integration, with the main objective of promoting the study of biologic and geologic sciences among the youth. They also reward the effort and good academic results, being a meeting point between secondary education and university.
On 2nd March, the biology exam took place simultaneously in the three provincial headquarters: Universidad de Alicante, Universitat Jaume I and Universitat de València (Inter-Faculty rooms in Burjassot Campus). 558 students participated. The Geology Olympiad was held on 26th January at the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Physics at Burjassot Campus.
These are the students awarded in the Biology Olympiad of Valencia and their respective high schools: Joan Escrivá Font, IES María Enríquez (Gandía); Irene Máñez Castelló, Colegio La Encarnación (Sueca); Cristina Vidal Verdú, IES Gregori Maians (Oliva); Ana Blas Medina, CE Mas Camarena (Paterna); Marc Balanzá García, IES Benicalap (Valencia); Ainhoa Martín Polo, Colegio Salesianos Sant Antoni Abat (Valencia); Javier Lozano Ordaz, IES Eduardo Merello (Puerto de Sagunto); Inés Irles Aldea, IES Districte Marítim (Valencia), Pablo Ferrando Barberá, Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Valencia) and Aida Sanvíctor Hidalgo, IES Vermellar (Ollería).
In addition, Joan Escrivá Font, Irene Máñez Castellón and Cristina Vidal Verdú participated as representatives of the Valencian Community in the XIII Spanish Biology Olympiad, which was held in the Faculty of Sciences of the Uex - university campus of Badajoz, from 12th to 15th April.
These are the students awarded in the Geology Olympiad of Valencia and their respective high schools: Joan Escrivá Fuente, IES María Enriquez (Gandía); Víctor Albiñana Martínez, IES Benicalap (Valencia) and Isabel Escrig Huertas, IES Clot del Moro (Sagunto).
Besides, Óscar Hernández García, Ramón Margarti Tornero, María Sáez Díaz, Azahara Rodríguez Sánchez and Alba Rodríguez de la Torre shall obtain a special honourable mention for their brilliant results.
The amount of participants in the local phase of the Geology Olympiad reached over 150 students. In consequence, in the IX Spanish Geology Olympiad, held in La Granja (Segovia) from 16th to 18th March, only participated those who obtained one of the four first positions in the classification of the local phase.
The student Joan Escrivà Font was the winner of the local phases of the Olympiads of Biology and Geology. He also won the gold medal in the national phases of both Olympiads. For that reason, he shall participate in the international phase of the Biology Olympiad which will be hold in Teheran (Iran) from 15th to 22nd July and also in the international phase of the Geology Olympiad, in Kanchanaburi (Thailand) from 8th to 17th August.
