The National Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics is an examination in the series of student olympiads, which has found a special place among those interested in science competitions. The competition was held among thousands of 11th-grade volunteer students in one year and three stages. Sepehr Mizanian was able to win the gold medal for a test in the National Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2020-2021. Last year, he was recognized as a national silver medalist in these exams.
Sepehr Mizanian, born in 2003 and the son of Katayoun Bamasian and Dr Kambiz Mizanian is currently studying in the 12th-grade of Mathematics and Physics at Allameh Helli High School in Tehran and teaches astronomy and astrophysics to 11th grade students. He completed the first years of secondary education also in Allameh Helli High School. His elementary schooling was in Jamshid Jam’s Elementary School.
Sepehr Mizanian tells about his interest in astronomy and astrophysics: “I have been interested in astronomy since childhood. In middle school I attended astronomy classes and school observatory camps and got familiar with its calculation features. And, thus, my interest in the subject, in the night sky and astronomy increases.”
This young and successful boy talks about his plan towards success: “From the beginning of the tenth year, I started studying for the Olympiad. Of course, in addition to the classrooms, the school also provided training on the Olympiad. “The gold medalist of the Iranian Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad said about his plan for the future: “I am currently teaching astronomy and astrophysics at the Allameh Helli High School undergraduate (eleventh-grade) students. This year is the right time for me to do necessary research in university fields of study, in order to make the right choice for my future. ”
Gold medalist Sepehr Mizanian explained how the exam was held and the steps towards success: “The Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad exams are held throughout the country in three stages. The first stage of the test is a test that has between 4,000 and 6,000 participants. About 10% of these participants are accepted for the second stage. The second stage is descriptive. The first 40 students of the second stage exam will go to classes in the summer. At the end of the summer (this year will be the end of December), six descriptive tests of the topics discussed in the classes and ten gold medals, 15 silver medals, and 15 bronze medals split among children. The questions posed in these tests are celestial mechanics, astrophysics, non-Euclidean geometry, data analysis, and observation. 10th and 11th-grade students can also take these tests. I also took part in these tests last year and won a national silver medal.”
At the end of the interview, Sepehr mentioned effort, interest, perseverance, and patience as prerequisites for achieving the goal and said: “To succeed in the Olympiad, students must only chase their interests. There is a lot of stress and pressure and due to specific advantages that the olympiad offers, a highly competitive atmosphere prevails. For this reason, it is not possible to win a medal in the Olympiad without having the four pillars of effort, interest, perseverance, and patience.”
