Aaron Lew

I am Aaron Lew, a Year 13 student at Manurewa High School in South Auckland. My parents are originally from China, which is where I was born, but since I was a baby my life has been spent in New Zealand and so I consider myself unequivocally Kiwi.

From a young age, I've been fascinated by science. Every year, I would enter the primary school science fair, with (admittedly basic) experiments ranging from sugar crystal formation to the freezing points of different liquids. When I reached high school, I began learning about massive issues such as climate change and environmental degradation. I gained a basic understanding of the role science plays in developing solutions to these challenges. It's for this reason that I have a huge passion for science and would love to become a researcher later in life.

Although science is my greatest passion, I also have a love for music and the arts. I have played as first flute in my school concert band since Year 9, and lead our school Arts Council, promoting the arts through intra-school events. For the last two years, I have served on the Manurewa Youth Council as Treasurer and Submissions Lead, giving a platform to local rangatahi on important issues.

I feel incredibly privileged to have been selected to attend XLab in Göttingen, Germany. This will be a fantastic opportunity to experience up close the kind of cutting edge science that is changing our world so radically. The kind of experiments being run are not typical classroom demonstrations and involve highly complex equipment. I am also excited to meet and bond with students from all over the world who share the same passions as me.