He is fascinated by science and the way the world functions and thinks everyone else should be too.
"Every day people turn on the TV, the lights, open the fridge but don't know whats behind it. It's important for people to understand how it works."
When he was 5 and living in South Africa he began collecting insects as he walked home from school and then hoped to become an entomologist.
Now he spends much of his time breeding catfish - a species which, like him, is inquisitive, colourful and not too violent.
Last year he travelled with the New Zealand Physicists team to an international competition in Croatia, where the team took second place.
Jazz is another one of his passions and he played the saxaphone in the school jazz band. He also played cricket and chess for the college, and continues to do both in his spare time.
Donald will be putting the $5000 scholarship prize towards his student loan so he can get overseas as quickly as possible. He will be just 21 when he finishes his five year degree and will already be strides ahead of the rest, something he says he became accustomed to by being the youngest in classes at school.
"It means you're always punching above your weight."
ALICE WANG
Alice Wang - a keen musician, youth advocate and cultural ambasador - hopes to put her scholarship towards becoming a government representative.
The 17-year old Avondale College student was one of New Zealand's highest achievers in the national scholarship examinations last year.
This year she has embarked on a joint degree in law and philosophy at the University of Auckland.
