With every Young Biologist (YB) graduation comes great awards, given to Young Biologists who deserve special mention.

At our latest YB graduation, which took place 19 October, two extra-special awards were handed out, but more about those later.

This latest graduation took place for our April 2013 YBs, whose course was sponsored by I&J. Thirty-four Grade 11s graduated, of whom 21 received a diamond certificate, the highest achievable level. Congratulations to all of our graduates!

The first award of the evening was handed out to the YB with the highest number of hours in the group.

Anoesjka Jansen had volunteered an impressive 206 hours in six months and received a signed copy of Two Oceans – A Guide to the Marine Life of southern Africa. Our senior teacher, Xavier Zylstra, presented the award

After the certificate ceremony our director, Dr Patrick Garratt, stepped up to the podium to present the Director’s Award. A tradition started at the graduation of our 2011 YB group, where Dr Pat rewards one YB of each group for their front-of-house volunteering. He does not look at academic achievements for this award, but rather excellent presentation and interaction skills at our Touch Pool and Hi-Tec Microscope exhibits.

This year’s Director’s Award went to a rather surprised Lindy Mohamed, who stood out above everyone else to our front-of-house staff

On to our next award, one of the extra-special ones, which was handed out for the very first time: the Charl Vogt Floating Trophy. Charl Vogt was a volunteer at the Two Oceans Aquarium more than 10 years ago and really loved spending his time here. Tragically, he passed away in 2003. In his memory, his family decided to donate money to the Aquarium. We then decided to commission a sculpture which will be a floating trophy, awarded annually to a YB with outstanding achievements and commitments to the Two Oceans Aquarium.

Liesl Vogt, Charl’s sister, speaking about her brother and what the Aquarium had meant to him

Our very first recipient of this trophy became a YB in 2011. She has volunteered for more than 758 hours in various areas in the Aquarium such as front of house, behind the scenes, penguins, educational sleepovers and programmes. She has also progressed to become a level 2 volunteer, after completing further training at the Aquarium.

And our first recipient is … Thaakirah Samaai (centre)! A huge thank you to Liesl Vogt, Mrs Vogt and Mr Vogt for their donation and for being part of the graduation

Our second extra-special award is in its second year and something about which we are extremely proud. The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Marine Research Centre (Ma-Re) and the Two Oceans Aquarium have formed a partnership through which we make it possible for one YB to receive a bursary for first-year studies at UCT, majoring in Marine Biology or Oceanography. To be eligible for this bursary, one needs to be a YB of the Two Oceans Aquarium and be recommended by our educational team based on one’s volunteering history, as well as meet the entry requirements of the university.

We are very happy to announce that this year’s UCT bursary recipient is Matthew Orolowitz, another 2011 YB. Here our head of education, Russell Stevens, presents the award to Matthew

It was an award-filled graduation and once again we are proud of our Young Biologists and all of their achievements. We expect great things of them, so watch this space!

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