Two teenage Shropshire chemistry students rank in top 0.5 per cent in Cambridge University challenge

It was the second year running that Concord College prefect Hayden Chan, 16, has celebrated winning the highest possible award, the Roentgenium, in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge.

He was joined in the competition, aimed at 6.1 students, by another Concord prefect, Xingzhi Lu, 17, who was also amongst only 73 Roentgenium winners out of a total of 14,810 students from schools across the country.

Five other students at Acton Burnell-based Concord also celebrated success by securing gold awards which put them in the top 15 per cent of entrants in the challenge.

Hayden and Xingzhi had both earlier been invited to a residential camp at University of Cambridge St Catherine’s College to explore chemistry further.

For Hayden, who participated in the competition both last year and the year before, the motivation was to beat his previous score and prepare for another competition in the coming months.

He said: “Last year I got the Roentgenium and was delighted so I thought I would give it another go this year and see if I could achieve it again.

“I’ve always enjoyed problem solving so being able to do hard questions is why I take part in these competitions whenever they are available.

“The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge is good preparation for the upcoming UK Chemistry Olympiad which is held in January.

“I did it in form 4 when I got a silver and this made me discover the fun of Olympiad-style questions. I was two marks off qualifying for the next round, so I really want to qualify this year. I saw the Cambridge University competition as good practice for the Chemistry Olympiad.”

Hayden is planning to study physics at a top UK or US university and is already thinking about completing a PhD in astrophysics.

Xingzhi decided to enter to have something else to work on alongside his AS studies. “I wanted to get involved as I like to challenge and stretch myself when I have the time.

“Students enter the competition for a variety of reasons, including wishing to test themselves and enjoying a challenge.”

Xingzhi wants to study computer science followed by an AI-focused PhD.

Roger McBain, Concord chemistry teacher, was delighted with the competition success. He said today: “Even to have one of our students win the top prize would have been great.

“But the fact that almost 15,000 students entered and two of our students got the Roentgenium is phenomenal.”