Meet SciGuy!In between mischievous pranks involving potassium atoms and chlorine bombs, he’s exploring the mysteries of creation by cave-crawling and testing the laws of gravity on his skateboard. SciGuy is the 12-year-old astronaut-in-training who is being let loose as the official Scifest Africa mascot. SciGuy is quite relaxed about being the face of Scifest Africa. He is everywhere – on t-shirts, posters, programmes and flyers. However, according to festival officer Tina Moss, he is unfazed by this newfound fame. He can be seen bouncing around the festival’s headquarters at the Monument, using the festival organisers as guinea pigs for his experiments. “He has also helped me shop for the festival and has even given some of the presenters a taste of their own magic medicine by making some of their luggage vanish,” said Moss. He has a passion for astronomy that was sparked when Scifest Africa founder Bugs Wilmot gave him a telescope for his birthday. He dreams of being a space-tourist on the Virgin-Galactic, a spaceliner to be launched by entrepreneur Richard Branson. He is especially excited for the 2009 festival which has astronomy as one of its themes. SciGuy keeps fit by playing tennis so that one day he will pass NASA astronaut tests. “My life ambition is to be part of the mission to the moon to bring back rocks with high levels of helium-3 as an alternative energy source for Earth,” he said. SciGuy is at the top of his grade 7 class in science and maths and can’t wait to tinker with test tubes in the high school chemistry lab. Margaret Wolff, Scifest Africa Manager, says that SciGuy gets really excited about the festival every year. “He gets to meet cool national and international scientists,” she said. He’s particularly pumped about meeting our own Case Rijsdijk who is lecturing on ‘what’s new in the universe’. Keep an eye out for SciGuy who is looking forward to chilling with his heroes and fellow aspiring scientists at all Scifest Africa events.  - Adapted from article by Cilnette Pienaar, SciCue newspaper 16 April 2008 |
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