The National Chemistry Olympiad (NSO) takes place annually to make students enthusiastic about chemistry and to give talent a chance to present themselves nationally and internationally. After two written preliminary rounds at school, the best students are selected. This competition allows students to discover and further develop their talent in chemistry.
After two corona years with all kinds of restrictions, the Olympic week could finally take place again on location, this year at Dow in Terneuzen. During these eight days, the finalists were presented with an extensive, high-level theoretical program by top researchers from Dow, partly in preparation for the international Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). The week ended with a four-hour theory test.
Award ceremony
The awards were presented by Anton van Beek, President Dow Western Europe. Onno de Vreede, Human Capital coordinator of Topsector ChemistryNL presented the ChemistryNL “Kanjerprijs” of 250 euros to the top four of the NSO. For the first time, ChemistryNL also awarded a “Sustainability Award”. Supervised by Kees Biesheuvel and Ronald Wevers from Dow, the students took part in a “CO2 reduction game” and, on the last day, in a sustainability “masterclass”. In the masterclass, the students went in search of their own future role in making chemistry more sustainable. Mitchell Rikken of the Lyceum Elst came out on top and received the prize of 250 euros. Mitchell was also the overall winner of the National Chemistry Olympiad 2022.
Onno de Vreede (Topsector ChemistryNL): “A thorough knowledge of chemistry and the ability to apply it in practice form the basis for any scientific business challenge. I would like to congratulate all participants on their participation and wish them success in their further studies. And for the winners of this final round: good luck at the International Olympiad!”
Read the full article here (in Dutch).
Initiators and sponsors
The National Chemistry Olympiad is an initiative of SLO. The event is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Royal Association of the Dutch Chemical Industry (VNCI), Cito Institute for Test Development, Dutch Association for Education in the Natural Sciences (NVON), Gymnasium Beekvliet (Sint-Michielsgestel), Lorentz Casimir Lyceum ( Eindhoven), Terra vo-mbo (Meppel), Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium (Groningen), Willibrord Gymnasium (Deurne), Radboud University (Nijmegen), University of Groningen, University of Amsterdam, VU University (Amsterdam), the Royal Dutch Chemical Association (KNCV ) and the Top Sector ChemistryNL .
The Malmberg Publishers, Noordhoff Publishers, Texas Instruments and Science in Picture are making prizes available.
