BRILLIANCE must run in the family for The Armidale School student Sambavan Jeyakumar who won a $20,000 scholarship to Western Sydney University in a competition about the brain.
The Year 10 student made it to the final round of the Australian Brain Bee Challenge at Western Sydney University and achieved full marks.
"I was pretty excited, I was hoping to do well and was pleased to make the top three.
I was down by a point going into the final round behind a girl from Illawarra, and as neither of us then got a question wrong, that was the end result.
My friends were pretty proud of me," he said.
The finals involved 100 students that answered questions on brain anatomy and physiology.
They also answered questions on neuroscience, diseases and technology.
Sambavan has set his sights on medicine and said the science scholarship has helped his self-esteem going into the HSC as it is something to fall back on.
"Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to be a doctor.
My dad is a doctor in Guyra and he's a role model for me," he said.
Sambavan completed an online competition last term with his classmates about anatomy and physiology.
The top ten per cent were chosen to go to Western Sydney University for the state finals.
Sambavan was then asked to answer 30 questions, 15 on brain anatomy and 15 on functions.
They were also taken on a tour of the science labs at the university and met current students that study in the area.
It was here that they were invited to take part in stimulations, where stimulators were placed on their wrists and an electric current passed through them that forced his hand to close.
Other students at the event competed in the team final, but The Armidale School didn’t have enough students in attendance to qualify.
His sister Ragavi came third in the competition last year and Sambavan said she helped him study.
"Now all the pressure is on my younger sister!" he said.
