YEAR 10 Swan Hill College student Alana Hughes’ eyes have been opened to new fields of science after a curious minds camp in the Australian capital.
Alana recently returned from a science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) Curious Minds camp.
Held in Canberra at the Australian National University, 65 most promising female students were selected to partake in the week-long program.
“The aim of the program is to encourage girls my age with an interest in science and maths into a career that involves those areas,” Alana told The Guardian.
“It was one of the best things I have experienced as I have made a lot of friends and learnt a lot which has opened my mind up to a range of new things.”
Selected on the basis of academic performance from last year, Alana joined year 9/10 students from “all around Australia” with whom she will meet with again at a second camp in July next year.
“High achievers were recognised from the maths, technology or science,” she said.
“It felt pretty special, I definitely wasn’t expecting it.
“Over the six month break, we each get a mentor who will work with us to prepare a project to put together and present to the girls at the next camp.”
Alana will be mentored by a genetic councillor and will focus her project on comparing her own tennis technique to that of a professional athlete.
“I’m interested in health science and the maths side of things,” she said.
“I want to go down the rehabilitation field and learn more about how the body works and help people with injuries or illnesses.”
The 16-year-old said the highlight of the camp was the passion of the educators and meeting new people.
“At the beginning, the whole experience was a bit daunting as I didn’t know anyone and had no idea what sort of activities were going to be involved,” she said.
“But, the teachers were so passionate and wanted to show us all of the components of different subjects.
“We started at 7am and went through until 10.30pm, and each day was targeted at a specific area; biology, chemistry, physics and earth science.”
Each day, the participants were given a project to work through with others which Alana found “really interesting”.
“I learnt a lot about communication and teamwork — skills that I’ll take with me through my whole life,” she said.
Alana said the Curious Minds camp had opened her eyes to new fields of science and was grateful for the experience.
“Science, maths and technology are sort of like male dominated areas and the more girls that get involved, the more ideas there are as women and men think differently,” she said.
“And then they can become role models for younger girls.”
