Hilton College Grade 11 learner William Kitching has been selected to represent South Africa at the United Space School (USS) at NASA in Houston, USA.
Kitching, who is one of only two learners countrywide to have been chosen, is the second Hilton College boy to represent South Africa at the USS in two years; last year Ben Kok received this honour. Kitching will be at NASA from 16 July to 31 July. Hanlie Dry, the Director of Academics at Hilton College, and Dr Alexei du Bois, the school’s Director of International Learning, said Hilton’s science department was to be commended. “We are thrilled by this recognition. Last year Ben did us proud at the USS, as did Khanya Mhlongo, who attended the MIT Africa Seminar.”

Mike Green, the outgoing head of science at Hilton College, said last year’s matriculants who took science achieved an impressive aggregate of more than 10% above the national average. “Almost half of these boys achieved an A and 70% of them achieved an A, B or C symbol for science,” Green said. Tanner Bailey, who was placed in the top 1% nationally for Physical Science, was among three Hilton College boys who took Further Studies Physics and also averaged 10% above the national average. “A growing number of boys are opting for this course,” Green said. Last year, Hilton College’s first class of A-level Physics pupils completed their Cambridge course. Ross Short scored a highly impressive A* while Spencer Wright, Ayaan Jakhura and Newo Munyai all achieved As. At start of 2022, Hilton also introduced A-level Chemistry. “A Level Sciences are widely recognized as challenging for even the most able pupils. We are incredibly proud of our boys’ achievements and the Hilton College Science Department for their hard work and expertise in preparing our first set of A Level matriculants for a successful set of results,” Du Bois said.

William Kitching