Chaewon Lee and Gideon (Douw) Strydom of Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West were the third and fourth Parel Valleiers in three years to be selected for the national team to represent South Africa at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Dubai. It is the first time in the school’s history that two of the four SA representatives were from Parel Vallei.
Yesol Jeong came first in South Africa in 2020 and represented SA at the IBO in 2021. In 2022, Marietjie Cilliers travelled to Armenia to represent South Africa as one of only four members of the SA team.
Chaewon and Douw are busy with their final months of preparation for the International Olympiad in July. All the top life-sciences students from all over the world will gather in Dubai for a week of theoretical and practical exams. The preparation is a mammoth task. Chaewon and Douw were using the same textbook first-year medical students use when studying biology and attend regular online Zoom sessions with their teammates and coach.
Parel Vallei High School wishes them all the best and share their excitement at the prospect of meeting like-minded individuals from all over the world.
