AFTER 10 weeks of encouraging girls to pursue STEM education in high school, 193 year 8 students from across the Hunter were celebrated at the 2023 HunterWiSE Schools Outreach Program presentation night.
The evening brought together young females from Belmont High School, Callaghan College Waratah, Lambton High School, Merewether High School, St Pius X Adamstown and Hunter School of the Performing Arts (HSPA).
"The HunterWiSE Schools Outreach Program demonstrates how high school-aged girls can excel in STEM when given the opportunity and support," HunterWiSE co-founder associate professor Elena Prieto said.
"We aim to promote the idea that STEM is accessible, rewarding, and important to their everyday lives," she said.
Throughout the program, the girls were supported by mentors and industry partners to identify an issue of concern in their community and find solutions using science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Their student projects this year were based around waste and recycling, water quality, teen mental health, vaping, street safety, flood risks and animal welfare.
HSPA won the Outstanding Poster Award for their project on redesigning self-serve checkouts to be more accessible for wheelchair users.
The People's Choice was jointly awarded to Lambton High School students for their project 'Utilising Super-Hydrophobic Cement to Prevent Pothole Formation', and students from Merewether High School, who chose to tackle the rising sea acidity levels in Lake Macquarie.
The Merewether students tied with Belmont High for the Outstanding Project award.
Belmont's students came up with an app to incentivise the use of reusable shopping bag, which has piqued the interest of supermarket representatives.
Expressions of interest for the 2024 HunterWiSE Schools Outreach Program, run through the University of Newcastle, will be announced in December.
