Top student surprised by scholarship success

Bojan Blazevic

Croatian-born Bojan Blazevic surprised himself and his parents by his strong academic performance last year that has seen him gain a $5000 scholarship to attend Auckland University.

Bojan, 17, is one of nine scholars to be awarded a New Zealand Education and Scholarship Trust (NZEST) scholarship.

NZEST is a private trust that provided independent scholarship examinations before the state took over its running. It now awards cash contributions towards tertiary study through a trust fund.

Bojan achieved outstanding performance grades in the NCEA scholarship subjects of calculus, statistics and physics.

He said that a couple of years ago, while doing "quite well" at school, he had not picked up any prizes.

He credited moving schools to Rangitoto College in the past two years as providing the push to reach his potential because of the increased competition. The family had left Croatia in 1994 when he was just 6 and did not know a word of English.

Bojan is now studying engineering at Auckland University and hopes to complete a PhD in engineering science overseas.

Another winner, Devarshi Bhattacharyya, achieved outstanding passes in statistics and chemistry, while topping New Zealand in the Cambridge A-level exams in mathematics.

Devarshi, a New Zealand-born Indian, hopes to study medicine like his older sister and is enrolled at Auckland University in the medical entry year. Last year the Auckland Grammar School student picked up a bronze medal at the chemistry olympiads in Taiwan.

* Other scholarship winners:

Caroline Di Jiang, Macleans College. Eric Kang, St Bede's College, Christchurch. Heather Macbeth, Burnside High School, Christchurch. Joseph Nelson, Sacred Heart College. Daniel Sardelic, St Peter's College. Alex Taylor, Westlake Boys' High School. Naomi White, St Hilda's Collegiate School, Dunedin.