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On Thursday 20 and Friday 21 September, Miss Forrest and four Year 11 students, Sabina Theobald, Clare Jolly, Clare Davey and Leah Kuiper travelled to Adelaide to participate in the UniSA STEM girl’s experience, we were also joined by other Year 11 students and teachers from the Mount Gambier region. We left the mount early Thursday morning and travelled to Adelaide. Once we arrived, there was a networking workshop set up by the University to help the girls learn skills and attributes useful in networking and meeting new people, the Mount Gambier group joined up with a contingent from Whyalla and some schools from Adelaide.

That night there was a dinner where amazing guest speakers talked about their experiences as women in their STEM field. During the dinner, students were able to put into practice the skills they learnt at the workshop earlier that day. On Friday, it was a day jam-packed with activities and industry tours. Out of the possible tours we were lucky enough to visit DST (Defence Science and Technology group) which is a part of the Department of Defence for Australia and the UniSA Health and Innovation building where ground-breaking cancer research is taking place. RSP (Rising Sun Pictures) which is a Australian visual effects company that has worked on movies such as Thor: Ragnarok, Charlotte’s web, Gravity, Peter Rabbit, X-Men, The Hunger Games franchise and The Harry Potter Franchise just to name a few. To finish the day we visited MOD (The Museum of Discovery), a futuristic museum incorporating art, science and technology together, there were interactive exhibits using virtual reality, thought provoking exhibits and immersive interactive displays too.

The other groups also visited SAAB Australia, which developed advanced defence, security and civil aviation systems and RAAF (Royal Australia Air Force) where they were given a tour of the base by a female test pilot (one of the guest speakers from the night before). It was also a culmination of leading days earlier in the year where students participated in workshops in the Mathematics and Sport Science areas. It was a great couple of days in Adelaide and a great opportunity for Year 11 girls to be involved in.

Justine Forrest | Year 8-12 Science & Mathematics Teacher

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