A final year student at the Albert-Claveille high school in Périgueux, the young man has just finished first in the general high school competition… Like Baudelaire, Hugo, Pompidou and Jaurès before him.
At 18 years old, Gauthier Helminger-Czuly is about to live an unusual experience. On July 11, he will be welcomed by the Ministry of National Education in the large amphitheater of the Sorbonne in Paris to receive first prize in the general high school competition.
The general high school competition was created in 1744 by the University of Paris in order to identify the young elite of the nation. The first distribution of prizes took place in 1747 and among the winners, we find some celebrities such as Jaurès, Pompidou, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Hugo, Pasteur and Bergson.
This competition distinguishes the best first and final year students from general, technological and vocational high schools. Last year, more than 17,000 candidates competed for 150 prizes, in around fifty disciplines.
Candidates take the exam on subjects that conform to the official programs, but in more complex tests than the baccalaureate exams: no documents, and only one subject proposed. LThe work of the best candidates can then serve as a reference for all classes. “It was very difficult over time, because the project took place over twelve consecutive hours in two days, reports the high school student. So a lot of things to learn, a lot of analysis and reasoning.”
He had to monopolize all his concentration on a single goal.
Gauthier Helminger-CzulyHigh school student, winner of the general high school competition
In his final year, Gauthier took courses in sciences and industry technologies and sustainable development (STI 2 D) in high school Albert-Claveille from Périgueux. Her passion ? The environment and electricity. Among other things, because this son of an architect and a painter is also passionate about designing electrical circuits for miniature trains, when he is not playing with his girlfriend at the Billiards Club in Périgueux.
When he is not immersed in his studies, Gauthier is bent over the billiards in the cafeteria of his high school or at the Billiards Club of Périgueux
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© Gauthier Helminger
“Initially, this competition was to confirm my results for the Bacexplains the high school student modestly. So that reassured me because the difficulty was harder than the Baccalaureate, it was training in the end. It was a very rewarding experience for my CV.”
Ending up a winner of the competition is even better, it opens a lot of doors, and it’s a nice curtain-raiser on what I’m capable of.
Gauthier Helminger-CzulyHigh school student
A curtain raiser that did not leave the family home, the parents and the two little sisters indifferent. “It was a big surprise at home. They were happy, very happy, and even a little stunned, I think.”smiled the young man.
“I suggested that he do this general competition because I have been following him since the first, and I felt that he had potential, that he reacted quickly. He has progressed a lot, he is a student who is gifted in energy and the environment“, Francis Gergely is full of praise. This Energy and Environment professor, who has known Gauthier for two years, became his mentor for this competition. This distinction is also a consecration for the teacher, who has been working at the Claveille high school for thirty years. “He is a methodical, serious person, who wants to understand, he wants to get to the end of things. He’s an excellent student, I don’t see any faults in him.”
This student, I am sure that in ten to fifteen years, he will have found something for our energy and our environment. It’s his passion. He will find solutions for our well-being.
Francis GergelyTeacher
The young winner of the general competition is from Périgord
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© Gauthier Helminger
On March 12, it took five hours, one hour more than for the Baccalaureate, to stand out from the 400 other student candidates in STI2D and be one of the three selected for their specialty. The final selection took place at the beginning of June in Montluçon. For two days, it was necessary to carry out practical work in your specialty based on a concrete case. It was this TP which allowed the jury to award first prize to Gauthier.
“The principal, the assistant principal, we are all happy, very happy, because it doesn’t happen regularly!“said Francis Gergely. The teaching team at the Albert-Claveille high school has reason to be proud of this result, especially since it is not a first. In 2022, it is Clément Vidy, 17 years old, who had off hook first prize in the General High School Competition in the engineering sciences category.
Concretely, no financial reward or promise of employment after obtaining this distinction for Gauthier, but implicit advantages. “Everyone who got first prize are grouped together in a friendly association of the former general competition excellence prizes, explains Francis Gergely. Afterwards, they have address books,It can lead to training, it can open doors for jobs.”
Next year, Gauthier will continue his training with a BTS in electro-technical energy and environment option in Claveille, before perhaps starting a professional license, if he is not quite ready for the world of work .
But despite his academic success, he does not wish to continue his studies indefinitely. “For the moment, schooling no longer interests me too much, I prefer to enter the world of work directly. And why not aim for an engineering school later… Ideally, I would like to join the SNCF because I have an apprenticeship contract with the SNCF in Toulon in Périgueuxexplains the young man, This will allow me to have more skills in the world of work and in electricity. And then, afterwards, why not, see even further and be self-employed in home automation.”
In the meantime,n July 11, Gauthier will go to La Sorbonne in the company of his professor, his mother and his girlfriend. A trip that promises to be memorable.
