The following report was received from Heidi Tustain, who recently spoke at our meeting on her experience at the National Youth Science Forum.
It was great to see you last week, and thanks again for inviting us, we all had a great time.
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to get this summary written for you, it's been a big week, but it's all done now:
The National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) is a nine-day program that runs in January for Year 12 students. There are two sessions, one in Canberra (where students stay at the Australian National University), and one in Brisbane (where students stay at the University of Queensland). Nine students from Bendigo Senior Secondary College were selected to participate in this program, where we had the opportunity to see and experience a range of STEM-related facilities from university labs to government research labs to large-scale facilities like Snowy Hydro. These experiences included facility tours, lectures, and education on current research and career pathways. Some of the highlights for us were the relationships we built, the experts we met and learned from, and the hands-on activities we got to try.
In our cohorts, we were split into various groups and assigned a buddy. One of the groups was our ‘constellation groups’, named after constellations, which were the groups that we were with for our STEM visits. The other type of group we were in was our floor groups, which were the people whose rooms were near ours, and the people that we caught up with every night. Between these and the wide range of activities we participated in with these people, we all found it easy to meet like-minded people and form friendships that last.
Something that was new to the program this year was the random grouping for our STEM visits. In previous years students were grouped together according to their interests, and their program would be built around that. This year instead, we were put into groups randomly and got to see and try things from a wide range of different fields of STEM. This helped us broaden our horizons and get a sense of what we do and don’t like.
Now that the program has ended, our connection to the NYSF doesn’t end. As alumni, we get the option to apply for the Student Staff Leadership Program, a volunteering opportunity for participants to come back as leaders for the next year’s students (which 3 BSSC students did this year). NYSF also has non-residential programs in the mid-year school holidays in more cities called STEM hubs, which are open to students in years 10-12 and are a great opportunity for future applicants to get a sense of what the Year 12 program is like, and a
chance for the Year 12s to catch up with their NYSF friends again.
Bendigo Senior, the combined Rotary clubs of Bendigo, and the Rotary Club of Balwyn and our families, some of us would never have had the chance to be part of this amazing program.
Kind regards,
Heidi Tustain