Mortaza Sahar from Pakuranga College along with Shalin Shah (Mount Albert Grammar) AND Fateh Singh (Manurewa High School) have been selected by Royal Society TeAparangi to attend the Future Experiences in Agriculture, Science and Technology (Feast).
Feast will take place at the University of Queensland in Brisbane at the start of July and is a five-day residential programme designed to inspire and inform high school students about the range of exciting and rewarding science careers in the agriculture, animal, plant and food sectors.
The students will explore science disciplines through hands-on activities and workshops. They will also attend industry-run sessions, reinforcing to the students that there are many exciting career opportunities available in science.
Andrew Cleland, chief executive at Royal Society Te Aparangi, says: “Not only is this a great opportunity for talented young New Zealanders to interact with experts at the top of their fields in science but it is also an occasion for students to meet other like-minded students from Australia and to share their passion for science”.
Mortaza Sahar, or Taza as he likes to be called, is head boy at Pakuranga College. He is not sure what he wants to study at a tertiary level but it will likely involve either artificial intelligence or neuroscience.
He is very involved in school activities and is the chair of the accelerated learning committee and a peer support leader and is captain of the first X1 hockey team.
Taza is heavily involved in community activities, which include being the public relations officer for the ‘Hazard Youth Afghan Association’ and is a team member of the ‘Empower Refugee Mentoring Programme’. “
“My parents have instilled in me that education is one of the most important things in life. I never really believed this until I reached my teenage years,” he says.
“I realised that in order to achieve anything in life, I would need to embrace learning and education. I have always been an extremely hard worker because I firmly believe that if you put the work in to understand and learning something, it can be achieved, however big or small it may be.”
