Holiday adventure a taste of university life
By Megan Lyall, Year 12, Mount St Bernard College, Herberton
DURING the winter school holidays I attended the 2017 Science and Infrastructure Development School in Brisbane.
This week-long camp for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Years 10-12 focuses on science and is designed to break down myths and barriers around attending university.
It aims to build students’ aspirations about all that is possible in the future.
We visited “real-world” work places and met industry professionals, participated in interactive university activities and, most importantly, made new friends who are also considering university study.
I found out what is like to study at QUT and learnt about the different pathways available at university.
After a tour of the engineering faculty we were given the opportunity to program robots which we raced. We travelled to the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, where people involved with the Commonwealth Games explained how the games will be run and where the athletes are going to stay.
We also met some of the engineers that were building the village. They demonstrated the design process using technology.
We visited the defence force barracks where we used simulations.
After the barracks we went to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary where an ecologist spoke to us about ecosystems.
It was an amazing week which inspired me to think about my future and study options after school.
I would like to thank and the co-ordinators of the SID school, QUT, Australian Defence Force and the mentors and university staff for their time and inspirational presentations.