• Hands-on week at Continental and Leibniz Universität for the winners of the Chemistry Olympics in Northern Germany
• Continental and the northern association of the German Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI Nord) honor budding chemists

Hanover, February 6, 2012. The international automotive supplier Continental and the Leibniz Universität Hannover will once again play host to Northern Germany’s top entrants in the Chemistry Olympics for schools. In recognition of their success, the Chemistry Olympians from Northern Germany will enjoy an opportunity to gain practical experience in the fields of research and management from Monday, February 6 to Friday, February 10, 2012. The 19 top talents from 16 secondary schools – including four pupils from the Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium in Garbsen – won the first two rounds of the competition and will be honored by VCI Nord and Continental at a small ceremony this evening.

“Continental has made it one of its missions to support and challenge future MINT talent in a targeted manner – from the school desk to life as a young professional. The Continental prize and the state seminar are designed not only to encourage schools to get keen and gifted pupils to participate and to support them, but also to awaken and promote a passion for chemistry,” explains project manager Jessica Bartusch, Corporate Employer Branding & Recruiting at Continental AG.

After a welcome and a joint lunch at Continental, the budding chemists will attend a practical demonstration by the ContiTech rubber expert Professor Stefan Sostmann covering the multi-faceted elastic properties of rubber. Following the hands-on day, during which the pupils will gain an insight into chemical research and the rubber industry, an award ceremony will take place at Continental AG in the evening. After Monday’s award ceremony, the pupils can look forward to a week of active involvement. On Tuesday, they will travel to Stöcken, where they will have the opportunity to see chemistry at work at one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers.

In addition, work-study students at Continental – or “Conti Bachelors” – will be on hand to answer any questions the pupils may have about training, studies and future prospects. A visit to the ContiTech mixing plant will round off the program on Tuesday. A further highlight during the week is a visit to the Benecke-Kaliko production halls in Hanover-Vinnhorst on Friday.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, the pupils will be at Leibniz Universität’s institutes for physical and technical chemistry in Hannover to gain insights into bachelor degree studies in chemistry and the life sciences. They will not only attend presentations covering everything from degree programs to potential fields of work and career prospects, but will also have an opportunity to take part in experiments. The physico-chemical component of the program will include experiments relating to the thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical processes as well as electrochemistry and surface analytics. Experiments into gene expression analysis on DNA micro-arrays will provide an introduction to biotechnological working methods, or “life science”. The participants will receive supervision in their evaluation of all the experiments. The secondary school pupils will also have a chance to talk to students about living and studying in Hanover.

The Lower Saxony preliminary competition of the Chemistry Olympics has firmly established itself. Again this year a large number of schools took part for the first time. All told, more than 200 pupils competed. Thirty-five made it through to the second round. High-performers in the third round will go on to the federal qualification round in Kiel. In July, the top four German pupils will travel to Washington, D. C., to take part in the International Chemistry Olympics. There they will vie against one another in individual competition. Each contestant undergoes a five-hour theoretical and practical test. Under the auspices of UNESCO, this event sets the stage not only for challenging mental competition but also promotes understanding between cultures.