Four St George's students have performed exceptionally well in the national Jonk Fuerscher contest. Organised annually since 1971 by the Fondation Jeunes Scientifiques Luxembourg, the competition offers young science enthusiasts the opportunity to present their work to the Luxembourg public in an internationally recognised competition, which further enables them to participate in prestigious competitions abroad.

Four students from St Georges have developed and worked on their own project for the past year and submitted their work to compete at the 51^st edition, which took place from 18^th to 20^th March.

Students had to give a presentation in front of the jury, followed by a question-and-answer session.
On the Sunday students participated in an Open House, presenting their projects to the public and Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg followed by an Award Ceremony with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

Year 12 student Max G, a returning participant, continued his project – Solving Chemistry and Mathematical Equations Using Python. He has developed a website allowing everyone to use his program, www.govac.eu

Max won a trip sponsored by The Alphonse Wecker Foundation to present his project at the London International Youth Science Forum UK at the London Imperial College.

Morgan CP, Year 11, has developed a python program, Ormcrypt, to allow for the encryption and decryption of text. This will allow for a higher security in messaging friends. He plans to return to Jonk Fuerscher next year, developing his project into a website/app to allow more people to use his software.

When asked about his experience in participating he said: “I am very grateful for the support from school and my teachers and having had the opportunity to present my project relating encryption to an audience who share similar interests and understood, supported and pushed me to do better. I met lovely like-minded students and was greatly inspired.”

Morgan won a trip sponsored by the European Commission to present his project at Le Printemps Des Sciences in Fes and Meknes, Morocco.

Sebastian R, Year 10, competed with his project: 'Does the improper storage of aspirin compromise its potency?' Sebastian has built a colorimeter with Lego, in which he was able to measure the degradation of aspirin when improperly stored.

Sebastian described his participation in the competition: “I am appreciative of the opportunity to present my colorimeter and associated project in the Jonk Fuerscher Contest. Both the participants and organisers of the event were incredibly kind, and stopped me from worrying too much. My teachers' help was invaluable, and I'm so happy that they guided me to this opportunity. I also got to meet the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, and I received a certificate/prize from him. The event really intrigued me as there were so many original, interesting concepts for projects, and the results they produced were clear, well-presented, and often introduced an actual invention that could be used.”

Sebastian won a trip sponsored by the European Commission to present his project at Le Printemps Des Sciences in Fes and Meknes, Morocco.

Kate S, Year 10, conducted a survey in school to find out what qualities people look for when selecting lipstick. Through her project 'Which qualities make a lipstick the best one', Kate researched and developed her own lipstick, based on what people valued the most.

Kate described her experience: “I felt privileged to take part in the National Jonk Fuerscher Contest and represent St George's with my research and creation of lipstick. All the work I did with the support of my teachers was finally fruitful. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was lovely to meet lots of other scientists and I felt that it was an incredible experience to meet the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and exchange a few words.”

Kate won a trip sponsored by the European Commission to present her project at the International Youth Congress in Zaragoza, Spain.