The student Georgi Tomov won a medal for his first presentation

Georgi Dimitrov Tomov, a student from the National School of Culture with Italian Lyceum, Gorna Bania has been studying for a year and a half at the Slavic Anglo-American School “Marina” in Moscow. He is an eight-grader. With a classmate they developed a project entitled The role of heat in human life. Reaction of the body to temperature change. They won the contest Fair of Ideas, and Georgi presented their work at the conference for scientific and research projects Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship (11-12 March 2008) in California, from where he returned with a medal.

To participate in the scientific championship you don’t only need a perfect command of English but also deep knowledge and skills to participate in discussions on specific scientific topics. The competition presentation is an independent research in a specific field: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, history, literature, psychology, linguistics, etc. On the jury there are scientists from the universities in Stanford and Berkeley, experts from leading world companies in the sphere of science and technology. Before the well-meaning but exacting jury for several hours the young scientists had to answer tough questions and to participate in serious discussions on the issues of global warming, nanotechnology, challenges before contemporary science and technology.

Georgi’s present school has been participating in the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship since 2002. On their idea in Moscow is organised an annual district conference, Fair of Ideas, where more and more schools and students participate. The programme is supported by the education and academic institutions and the mayor Yury Luzhkov. The expert jury comprises lecturers from the Moscow State University, research fellows from science and research institutes, representatives of the American Council for International Education. The Russian students show remarkable results. In the last years they have been returning from Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship with awards.

“Our boy” Georgi Tomov is a son of the writer Dimiter Tomov and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Bulgarian Diplomatic Review magazine Juliana Tomova, who is presently on a specialization at the Diplomatic Academy in Russia.

Georgi Tomov

This was my first competition of this kind. It was very exciting and challenging to step before over 500 scientists and representatives of business companies, to present my project and to answer all kinds of questions. They asked me about Bulgaria. They were intrigued by my story about Bulgarian fire-dancers.

With my classmate from the Slavic Anglo-American School “Marina” in Moscow Alexei Lyubimov we worked hard on our project for one year. At first we presented it at several rounds in Moscow. In the Fair of Ideas there were many participants and the competition was strong. But finally our team won. There were five of us – another two girls and two boys, they presented their projects together and I had to do our presentation alone.

The participation in Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship in California is quite prestigious. We met and spoke with many other children, with scientists and university students. The atmosphere was creative, calm and friendly, even the jury was friendly, but they did ask provocative and hard questions too. It was very nice that they called us “young scientists-inventors”.

The projects of the other kids were impressive – high quality, original ideas, studies and designs.

We went to see San Francisco by the ocean and Stanford University. The most interesting place was the Silicon Valley labs. We lived in a family of Russian scientists, very hospitable people who welcomed us as if we were their own kids.

I am very grateful to my teacher Marina Lvovna who helped us get prepared, supported us and accompanied us there, and to the school – for the chance to participate in the championship and to represent them.