The six winners of the 2014 Computer Applications Olympiad represent five provinces. And the winner came from Beaufort West.
Usually Olympiads are dominated by the two provinces with the most advanced schools: Gauteng and the Western Cape. This year the Applications Olympiad provided a result that was very different. Six provinces were presented at the Finals and five of them were among the medals!The Applications Olympiad attracts mostly learners who take the school subject Computer Applications Technology (CAT), learners who have an ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence) and those who are Computer Literate. Candidates must demonstrate their ability to use common office applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation tool and web design software. This year there were 17 686 entries for the competition from all nine provinces.
Fourteen of the top participants of the First Round were invited to take part in the Finals in Cape Town early in July.
The overall winner was Juan Goosen, a Grade 12 learner from Hoërskool Sentraal, Beaufort West. Juan is Head Boy at his school and plays for both the first hockey team and the first tennis team. He regarded the Applications Olympiad as “the most challenging test of my life”.
Juan won the gold medal, the CoZa Cares trophy and a Vice-Chancellor’s scholarship to the University of Cape Town. He intends to study for a BSc Actuarial Science next year.
Two silver medals were awarded – both going to girls. Anja Gericke, who also represents the Free State in swimming, comes from Eunice High in Bloemfontein. Jooeun Kim is from Potchefstroom Girls’ High in the North West Province and is a member of that province’s Youth Orchestra. Both girls are in Grade 12 this year.
Bronze medals were won by Dylan Nixon of Edgemead High (Western Cape), Josias Swart from Cradock High (Eastern Cape) and Robert Wood of Michaelhouse (KZN).
Runners up were:
Taariq Bardien, Grade 12, Islamia College, Western Cape
Siobhan Byrne, Grade 11, Fish Hoek High, Western Cape
Wilmien Esterhuyzen, Grade 12, Worcester Gymnasium, Western Cape
Peter Fourie, Grade 12, Bracken High, Gauteng
Sivashen Govender, Grade 12, Glenhaven Secondary, KwaZulu-Natal
Ghanief Karriem, Grade 12, Star College Cape Town, Western Cape
Poloko Pooe, Grade 12, Horizon International, Gauteng
Roché Visser, Grade 11, President High, Western Cape
