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OP2 student pursues the art of science
Last year's school captain of Burnside State High School will be drawing on multiple talents when he starts a science degree at the University of the Sunshine Coast next month.
Jonathon “Jono” Hooper, 18, is inspired by his cartooning work and music gigs as well as a fascination for biology he developed in Year 10.
Jono runs a website for his comic strip ‘Dog and Selwyn Too’, which is also published in his local newspaper, and plays trombone in the Shake It Up All Stars Big Band, which performs regularly at Coast events.
The Woombye resident was surprised and delighted to receive such a high OP. Because he is a local, Jonathon gets an extra credit to boost his OP2 to an equivalent OP1 for enrolment at USC.
He easily beat the OP4 cut-off to enrol in the University’s Bachelor of Science (Accelerated Honours), which may see him finish the higher degree in three years instead of four.
“I’m amazed by how the human body works but I’m also interested in the coastal environment, so I want to major in Environmental Science,” said the keen bushwalker.
Jono, who last year won an Apex bursary after writing newspaper articles about his school’s activities, said he first visited USC’s Sippy Downs campus for the Voices on the Coast youth literature festival.
He also was chosen for a PICSE (Primary Industry Centre for Science Education) science scholarship through USC. As part of that, he will deliver a report next month about his industry placement with the Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group.
“I decided to study at USC because it’s close to where I live, it has a good name and it’s smaller than universities in Brisbane,” he said.
“My teachers were really caring at Burnside and I hope to continue that sort of personalised attention.”
Jono said he was looking forward to courses such as Cell Biology and a future career in scientific research.
– Julie Gatehouse