Success: first Hungarian gold medal ever on the International Geography Olympiad

The Hungarian team acquired one gold, silver and bronze medal – reported index.hu. According to the event’s website, the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) is an annual competition for the best 16 to 19-year-old geography students from all over the world.

Triple Hungarian success

The competition was organized between July 30 and August 6 in Quebec, Canada. Kinga Kaszap who is starting the next school year in ELTE Radnóti Miklós Secondary School (Budapest)

won a gold medal.

Furthermore, Márton Mészáros, a student from Türr István Secondary School (Pápa) won a silver medal while Márk Mészárik from ELTE Apáczai Csere János Secondary School (Budapest) got a bronze medal. Besides, the fourth member of the team, Benjámin Bodansky, did not get a medal this time.

The Hungarian team took part in the highest-ranked competition of Geography for the tenth time and its performance exceeded expectations. This is because

among the 163 competitors,

Kinga Kaszap managed to win a gold medal which is the first Hungarian gold ever. In fact, the organizers distribute altogether 87 medals – among which there are 16 gold medals – and Hungary acquired the

eighth place in the competition of the nations.

According to the event’s website, students representing their country are chosen from thousands of students who participate enthusiastically in their own National Geography Olympiads. The iGeo consists of three parts: a written test, a multimedia test and substantial fieldwork requiring observation, leading to cartographic representation and geographical analysis. The program also includes poster presentations by teams, cultural exchanges, and time for students to get to know their fellow students and explore the host city.

Stimulate interest, drawing attention and facilitate contacts

The

aims of the Olympiad

are to stimulate an active interest in geographical and environmental studies among young people, drawing attention to the quality of geographical knowledge, skills, and interests among young people, facilitate social contacts between young people from different countries and in doing so, contribute to the understanding between nations.

For the international part of the program, HunGeoContest provided the selection phase. The English language competition is organized by the Modern Geographic Foundation and the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences of the University of Pécs. The director of the competition is associate professor András Trócsányi. According to index.hu, the

next session will start in October

with an online round.

The PhD students and teachers of the University of Pécs have been taking part in the preparation of the Hungarian team and the organization of the competition for several years.  The Ministry of Human Capacities provides financial aid for the organizer Modern Geographic Foundation in the framework of the Hungarian Genius Program.

As we already reported, the Hungarian students

performed well on the International Chemistry Olympiad, too.

There they acquired one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.

Featured image: facebook.com/iGeo2018

Source: index.hu