Olivia beats the odds to secure science place
A STOCKPORT high school pupil realised that her dreams were within reach on a three-day residential course encouraging women to work in science.
Olivia Austin, who is in Year 11 at St Anne’s RC High School on Glenfield Road, beat more than 18,000 girls across Britain to secure a place on the Women in Science course held at Pembroke College, Cambridge University.
She attended the course during the Easter holidays, taking lessons on computing, zoology and chemistry.
Olivia said; “Before this Cambridge University seemed out of reach. The words ‘prestige’ and ‘exclusive’ come to mind.
“The Women in Science residential advocates more women in science and makes these seemingly unobtainable universities obtainable for people who go to schools in less privileged areas.”
During the residential course, pupils took part in team-building exercises, including being tasked with building a tower from tape, spaghetti and a can of lemonade. They toured Pembroke College and took a computer science lesson
Olivia said: “It opened my eyes to a subject I’ve never considered. We received an amazing Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, a creditcard sized computer developed by Cambridge University.”
The youngsters were also challenged to make batterypowered cars, attended a session on battery safety and dissected pigs’ heads in a zoology session.
Olivia met five women who shared their journeys into careers in science and got advice on what to do once she finished Year 11.
The pupils then wrote postcards to themselves to be posted after results day and were presented with certificates at an awards ceremony.
Olivia said: “I now realise anything is obtainable. Being a woman in science is a privilege.”