Canberra and regionally based NYSF alumni volunteered their time to participate in Science in ACTion at the Australian National University (ANU) in August - a two-day event, which runs annually as part of National Science Week, celebrating science and technology.
This year, the NYSF hosted a booth at the event, and a number of local schools visited on Friday, allowing the promotion of our programs to year 10 and 11 students and their teachers.
Saturday was the community day, keeping NYSF volunteers busy demonstrating the very popular Van der Graaff generator and the Wimshurst machine, which were kindly loaned by the ANU Physics Education Centre.
NYSF alumni from the 1988 session and from 2008 dropped by the booth to say hello - both have moved into successful careers in science. One enthusiastic student who will be attending the January session in 2015 was very excited to see the NYSF at this year’s event.
Due to the success of the event, Chair of the ACT Science Week committee, Dr Merryn McKinnon, has invited the NYSF to participate next year.
NYSF Director, Damien Pearce, said participating in this Science Week event was important for the NYSF to raise its profile on campus at ANU. “I would like to thank Dr McKinnon for the opportunity to be involved in this very successful event. It was great to see displays from organisations as diverse as Lockheed Martin, NICTA and the Australian Society of Parasitology. And astronaut Rick Hieb was a real draw-card on the Saturday.”
“A big thank you to our volunteer alumni for providing their time, enthusiasm, knowledge and ability to communicate with the public for a hands-on learning experience.”
Story: Julie Maynard