Top student receives Schumann Award

Top postgraduate student in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University, Logan Standaar, with his parents, Melvin and Lillan Standaar of Durbanville. Father and son both work for Metropolitan, while Mrs Standaar is a teacher at the Western Cape Sport School in Kuils River.

The gold CGW Schumann medal for the best postgraduate student in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University has been awarded to Mr Logan Standaar.

Prof Johann de Villiers, Dean of the Faculty, recently presented it to him at a function held in Stellenbosch. The medal is named after the Faculty’s first dean and has been awarded annually since 1986.

In 2011, Standaar passed his BComm Honnours degree in Actua­rial Science cum laude. According to Prof Garrett Slattery, Head of Actuarial Science, he was the only student in his class who achieved this distinction. Students who excel in the relevant university subjects may be exempted from the equivalent prescribed examinations of the actuarial profession. “Logan was recommended for all ten of the available exemptions on the completion of his Honours degree. This is a rare achievement indeed,” Prof Slattery added.

Hailing from Durbanville, Cape Town, Standaar matriculated at St George’s Grammar School in Mowbray. He said he would have been a pilot had he not studied actuarial science. “Flying remains one of my dreams.” He is also a good piano player who occasionally stands in for the organist at his local church.

Standaar, who is currently studying for the Postgraduate Diploma in Actuarial Science at SU, joined Metropolitan at the beginning of the year. In November 2011 and in June this year he wrote two of the final set of examinations towards becoming a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. On both occasions he obtained the top mark of any university student writing these.