Camille in Grade 11 was recognised in 2024’s Climate Science Olympiad. We chat with her on her life at GESS, what she enjoys doing and how she manages her challenges and opportunities in high school.
Hi Camille, could you introduce yourself to our readers, and tell us how long you have been in GESS?
Hi, my name is Camille Bouchez, I am currently in 11th grade and I have been at GESS for about 14 years now, since kindergarten.
We heard you received a Silver Award at the Climate Science Olympiad late 2024, standing out among 37,500 participants worldwide. What motivated your participation? Could you tell us more about the experience, e.g. how long you took to prepare your submission, what you worked on and your response when informed about your result?
My participation in the 2024 Climate Science Olympiad can be mostly attributed to my mentor Ms. Krishna, who encouraged me to participate. I had also joined the Olympiad the previous year in 2023, so I had some experience going in.
The Olympiad consisted of preliminary rounds with general questions about climate change, which were relatively straightforward. The challenging part came in the semi-finals, where we were asked to write a 1000-word response to a climate change prompt in under 3 hours. From the over 20,000 responses in the semi-finals, 100 were selected for the finals, including myself.
For the finals, we had just over a week to write a 4000-word in-depth essay about a topic of our choice, along with a 15-minute presentation summarising our findings. This was especially challenging, given it took over 5 hours a day, on top of school and other activities, to both research and document my findings, with my essay having around 60 citations in the end.
After submission, the top 20 responses were chosen to give a formal presentation to the head of the Olympiad, to further decide on the rankings. This was a 20-minute session, including questions from the judges after. From there, the rankings were finalised, and that was how I ended up with a silver medal. For the amount of work I dedicated, I was very happy with the results I received.
What else do you enjoy doing, in and out of school? Are you involved in any special groups or activities at GESS – if yes, what are some of them?
I enjoy spending time doing a few sports, including volleyball at GESS, dancing, Capoeira (Brazilian form of martial arts), and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu outside of school. Other than that, I am also part of the secretariat for the GESS MUN, organising some aspects of the CCA, and I joined the tech tree committee this year as well. I also spend some time doing arts and crafts including painting, clay modelling, and origami in my free time.
You are currently in Grade 11 and will be in Grade 12 in no time. How do you balance all your commitments, in and out of school? What challenges do you foresee when you move to Grade 12 next school year?
I had some class schedule changes that impacted my after-school activities, but I could probably rejoin them next year after the schedule changes. Other than that, I plan to significantly increase the time I spend studying as I move towards my exams. My goal at the moment is to finish everything I can now. Grade 12 should be harder, so I’m trying my best to collect advice from seniors to best prepare myself.
As a high schooler, what are some of the opportunities and support you receive?
The university counselling at GESS is a helpful support system, particularly strong for certain university pathways. Given the wide range of options students pursue, it’s understandable that one course can’t cover every possibility in depth. I find that combining the guidance offered through counselling with my own research helps me prepare more thoroughly—and when I need deeper insight, I know I can turn to our knowledgeable teachers for further support.
For opportunities outside school, most of mine come from Ms. K alone, with others via BeyondClassrooms. With my scope of interest being quite specific, I am selective about what is suitable and relevant to me as a high schooler.
So far in high school, I feel that students are encouraged to do well in academics, and less weightage on external activities. GESS has a wide range of learning support capabilities, and I have seen many schoolmates vastly improve their skills with the resources provided.
To fellow schoolmates who are not already pursuing their passion and cultivating talents at GESS, or to families and schoolmates new to GESS, what would be your word of advice how they can optimise and best enjoy their learning journey here?
My advice would be to find out what you enjoy doing and go do that. Additionally, I would advise to find out which universities you want to go to very early on, and do what is required to get in, both in terms of subject choice and grade expectations. That way, you don’t have to work too hard later, to achieve the shortfall in your grades, and you get more free time.
