Holy Trinity student Mitchell Lennon experienced science from some new perspectives when he participated in the University of Sydney’s Science Gifted and Talented Discovery Program three-day workshop earlier in the month.
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Mitch, a year 10 student, joined 107 other talented science students in Year 9 and 10 from around NSW, ACT and Victoria on campus at the University of Sydney on July 10-12 for hands-on workshops and lectures in biology, chemistry and physics.
Mitch took the exam late last year and was successful with the attempt. He also received a travel scholarship.
“They gave us a bit of money to help us get down there ‘cause we were one of the furtherest ones away which made it a bit easier for us,” he said.
The University of Sydney's Science Gifted and Talented Discovery Program entrance exam was sat by 1731 students from 93 schools, with only the top 9.4 per cent of students invited to the workshop.
Over the three days, students heard from scientists and lecturers in physics, biology and chemistry.
“I really enjoyed the physics,” Mitch said. The students also did experiments in chemistry and especially biology. “Biology, I think we did nearly experi-ments all day. We go to cut up a locust and look at all this other cool stuff with microscopes.” He also made slime in the chemistry session.
“All it was for the first five minutes, was just stirring water on a stove. Nothing happened and then they added a chemical thing and then bang, straight into slime. The longer it sat there, the stickier it got.”
With so many students attending from all over, Mitch met a lot of new people. “Everyone was friendly and there weren’t any trouble-makers!”
Especially taken by the physics, Mitch was interested in a demonstration in electricity and the chance to view the sun through a special telescope.
“It was amazing. It was pretty detailed. You could see a few sunspots. It was good.”
Running since 1996, this Science and Discovery Program has had more than 1600 students participate.
“Students get the chance to discover different areas of science and get involved with hands-on activities that they wouldn’t normally cover in school through the University of Sydney’s Gifted and Talented Discovery Program,” said Jess Morris, School Programs Co-ordinator, Faculty of Science.
Mitch came away with some fresh thoughts about science.
“It was an excellent experience. It was a great time.”
