A Solid Basis of Science

Anker benefits from his high level courses in physics, chemistry and math

Anker Hauge Nielsen graduated from Grenaa Gymnasium last summer and is now a student at the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University.
– I feel very much at home here both with regards to the subjects we study and socially. I’ve got some very nice study mates, and I have not been taught areas of chemistry that I have not been introduced to during the chemistry lessons at Grenaa Gymnasium.

Both breath and depth

Anker explains that he chose the STX for his upper secondary years, because he was keen on all the subjects he knew from middle school and knew that he would be able to continue with many of them as an STX student.
– As an STX student, even if I opted for one of the science lines, I would not miss out on for example music or history. And gradually I also realized that I value that there is more theory in the STX syllabuses, because this gives you are more fundmental understanding of the subject matters.
– Now that I am at the university, it has also become clear to me, that the humanities, subjects like Danish or Greek & Roman Classics, helps one too , even as a student of natural science. For example there are concepts that I understand more easily because we read Plato during STX. More generally, I am used to studying many different fields of knowledge because the STX programme offers both breath and depth. This is definitely a strength and you do not exclude yourself from possibilities.

No theory without the practical side – not even during lock down

It is a fact that there is more theoretical knowledge to learn in the STX programme than in other Danish upper-secondary programmes, but this does not mean that the practical dimensions are not included. In subjects like biology, chemistry, physics and biochemistry approximately one third of the lessons are spent in the laboratory conducting experiments or collecting samples in the nature surrounding Grenaa Gymnasium.

– Even during corona lock down we did experiments at home. Our chemistry teacher managed to supply us with ingredients for it before every thing went online, Anker explains. – We had a really good chemistry teacher and there were only five of us in the high level class. One might suspect that that would be a disadvantage to be so few, but it just worked so well for us.

Chemistry Olympics helped the decision

When Anker was still a student at Grenaa Gymnasium he long thought that physics would be his future path. But this changed towards the end of his last year.

– I think now that it was my participation in the International Olympiad of Chemistry that made me realize that I preferred chemistry instead. This is by the way another thing I like about STX at Grenaa Gymnasium that they walk an extra mile for you. For example the teachers spend time helping you if you’d like to give one of the competitions a try. Also there is the Science Club which is another extra-curricular activity and where you get to decide yourself what you’d like to do. I remember that we made some harmless bombs, Anker recalls with a smile. He also remembers the Natural Science Festival as a very good experience. – I was part of creating the chemistry show. Again we had free hands and did everything ourselves.

What do chemists do?

What future does a university degree in chemistry hold? Anker explains that most chemists find employment in private companies as product developers as chemistry is the science of how substances react with each other. However, Anker thinks he might try to become an upper-secondary teacher. – I’d like that because it would allow me to work with science and people at the same time.