Leading US universities snap up Georgian maths school students before graduation

Four students from Georgia’s oldest mathematics teaching institution, the Komarovi School, will join leading universities in the United States after becoming the first pupils to claim scholarships before graduation.

Giorgi Chubinidze, Lekso Borashvili, Giorgi Kldiashvili and Luka Mdivani will enrol at renowned universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Pennsylvania, thanks to their performance at the Tbilisi school.

Received by Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze earlier on Monday, the young students spoke to the head of the government about their professional aspirations and choice for US-based universities.

The selected students made history for Komarovi as the first pupils to receive foreign tuition before end of academic year. Photos: Komarovi Campus School on Facebook.

The teenagers, in their final grades at Tbilisi primary school, obtained support for tuition abroad before the end of academic year, the first such case for the venue.

Of the four successful students, Chubinidze is set to join the University of Pennsylvania, known for its long history since its establishment in 1740 and ranked among top American and international academic institutions.

Kldiashvili will be among students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a major venue for both STEM and social sciences that boasts a range of leading public intellectuals in the US working at its departments.

The Lafayette College, a liberal arts college, will accept Borashvili among its over 2,500 undergraduates, while Mdivani will be in a new wave of students joining the Duke Kunshan University, a Chinese-American institution located in Kunshan, China.

The four students will begin their academic spells at new universities in September.

The Komarovi School, formally known as the Tbilisi No. 199 Public School of Physics and Mathematics, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015.

Its students are known for their success at international mathematics competitions such as the Central European Olympiad and the International Mathematical Olympiad.

A number of the school's students were received in 2017 by the then-PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili among a larger group of young pupils that claimed 14 medals at various international competitions that year.