For her essay entitled ‘Which aspects of physical geography have the strongest effect on the economic growth and output of a country’?, Year 9 student Maisie Ho has been awarded highly commended in the national Aristotelian Essay Competition run by the Perse School, Cambridge. Maisie, an academic scholar, wrote about economic growth and the physical aspects of the environment and geography that helps economic growth such as hydrology and minerals, referring to Botswana and its diamonds; Sierra Leone’s minerals and Norway’s natural gas. She entered the competition because she thought it would be fun, and to help her write essays in the future. Admitting to being surprised at doing so well in the competition, Maisie said “I was proud because it took me ages to write it. I had to go through it, plan and add references.”