Hadžibajrić Supports Young Physicists' Departure for Olympiad

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Successful Sarajevo high school students Nola Šehalo, Admir Papić and Muhamed Sokolović received support from the Stari Grad Municipality, thanks to which they will travel to the World Physics Olympiad, which will be held in Portugal at the end of July, with the participation of teams from over 80 countries. The high school students from the International High School Sarajevo, who have brought medals and excellent results from world olympiads in Romania and Moscow, also have high expectations in Portugal. They prepare for the Olympiad daily, practicing up to eight hours a day.

To qualify for this competition, Nola, Admir, and Muhamed, in addition to hard work, had to prove themselves at the state physics competition held in May this year. Among the 20 best high school physicists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Admir won first place, Muhamed third, and Nola fourth.

Their results have also been noticed beyond the borders of this country. Namely, the young physicists wrote a project for CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva.

- CERN, in an effort to promote science, organizes a competition for high school students, and we were supposed to propose an experiment and send it to them. If the project interests them, they invite you to CERN, which is a huge honor. Among 159 submitted projects, we were among the top 30, and that is a huge success. Unfortunately, only the first two projects pass, and the top 30 receive diplomas and a particle detector, so we are happy about that - Muhamed said.

Nola has just returned from a competition in New York, from where she brought a gold medal, but not in physics, but in poetry. She modestly recounted how, besides physics, she is also interested in poetry and how she participated in the so-called Olympiad of Geniuses, where young people compete in various fields: science, culture, art, robotics, creative writing, poetry. She was awarded the gold medal for writing poetry, and when it was noted that physics and poetry do not really go together, these young physicists almost in unison replied: „Well, Einstein played the violin!“

Admir is the oldest among them and has just finished his fourth year, and physics still occupies a central place in his life.

- Every day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., we conduct experiments and prepare at the Society of Physicists, and then from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., we attend lectures at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics given by former Olympians. We work a lot, but we also hope for good results - Admir said.

Municipal Mayor Ibrahim Hadžibajrić received the young physicists today and discussed their future plans. Since the physicists were missing a certain amount for the trip and participation fee for the Olympiad in Portugal, Hadžibajrić promised that the Stari Grad Municipality would secure the necessary funds and wished them to return from this Olympiad with gold medals as well.