By Mark Ambrogi
Brendan Yap was part of a little U.S. history at the International Chemistry Olympiad.
The 2017 Carmel High School graduate was part of a group of four U.S. students who earned gold medals in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
The U.S. students competed with 293 students from 75 nations from July 6 to 15.
The top 36 earned gold medals. Yap placed 32nd. Harrison Wang, Hinsdale, Ill., finished fifth, Joshua Park, Lexington, Mass., 16th and Steven Liu, Cupertino, Calif., 28th.
“The key for me was preparation,” said Yap, who plans to major in computer science and electrical engineering at MIT. “In both 2016 and 2017, I went to the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad study camp, where they train 20 students for two weeks. At the end of the camp, the team of four is selected. I attended the study camp last year, but didn’t make the IChO team. During those two weeks, we attended lectures in the mornings, lab practical in the afternoon and took mock IChO exams in the evening. I also studied on my own during the school year as well as practicing labs in my garage.”
Through the experience, Yap learned to have confidence in his own ability and to trust in the training.
“In practices, I was unsure of myself, especially with the lab tasks,” Yap said. “However, I felt more comfortable during the actual competition. When I felt stressed before exam day, my teammate, Harrison, advised me to trust in the amount of preparation that we’d done.”
Still, there were some anxious moments.
“The closing ceremony was extremely nerve-racking because the announcers call honorable mentions, bronze, silver and gold medals up in reverse order of placing,” Yap said. “But when all the silver medalists were announced and all four of us on the U.S. team were still left, it was an amazing feeling.”
Yap said he enjoyed the Thai food, especially the tropical fruit.
“I tried mangosteen, jackfruit, coconut and rambutans, and they were all delicious,” Yap said.
Yap said he enjoyed meeting people from all around the world.
“Turns out we’re all really similar,” Yap said.
The competition started with Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary in 1968. The first U.S. team competed in 1984 and has been sponsored by the American Chemical Society since the start.
