John Cole

Even at seven years old you could find me sitting in the garage and hacking away with a pair of pliers and a hammer at computer and appliance PCBs. I have always been one to question the world around me looking for an understanding – even if I often couldn’t understand the answer in its entirety.

In my school day, I work in the student leadership of almost 1800 young men as the Deputy Head Boy of Palmerston North Boys High School. When not in a class, I am involved in the debates and VEX Robotics clubs. I am also involved in local musical theatre, both singing and dancing in in a range of different genres.

I am also very interested in psychology, law and politics. I enjoy pursuing these different interest at conferences where I can combine these interests with science and debate.

I completed NCEA level 3 last year, finishing a level 3 NCEA English, physics, calculus, chemistry, statistics and digital technologies and sat and achieved scholarship English in my Year 12. This year, I am taking 6 University papers; composed of the Math199 2 Semester STAR course offered by Canterbury University, a Victoria University introductory physics course, a history course provided by Massey University, a computer science course through Waikato University and an introductory Te Reo Maori course also through Waikato University.

I have only ever been internationally once - when I visited the Johnson Space Center with the Pūhoro STEM Academy in 2018. So the opportunity to go overseas without my whānau, much less to a place of so much history as Bulgaria, brings on a catatonic mixture of terror and absolute excitement! I can’t wait to learn and live in Bulgaria for 3 weeks. I think that the opportunity is a great opportunity for me to develop in an academic and scientific sense, but also personal sense. Especially as I look towards a life of research, technology and working with others to discover our future and change the world!