In 2021 Benjamin Kleyn (then in Grade 11) from Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West reached the final of the IITPSA’s Olympiad. (Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa.) More than 1300 learners from 114 schools participated and Benjamin and Tian Groenewald (Matric 2021) represented Western Province along with only 17 other learners in the final. This time Benjamin entered for The Entelect Challenge IITPSA Cup which is a one-day hackathon. The challenge started at 08:00 and it took Benjamin almost 7 hours to solve the coding problem. He won 1st place and R10 000 in prize money.

Entelect said they were “on the lookout for exceptional talent,” but didn’t quite expect a high school learner to beat all the university students.

Benjamin Kleyn