Incursions and Excursions
Wheelchair Basketball
The 2nd Year Sport & Recreation classes had the opportunity
to participate in a Wheelchair Basketball clinic, delivered by Basketball Victoria. In the clinic they got practical experiences relating to various Units of Competency covered this year, which will help prepare them for upcoming assessments and exams. The students and teachers had a blast playing basketball and learning how to structure practical sessions, and were definitely feeling sore the next day.
Y11 Physics Australian Synchrotron Excursion
A facility purportedly more than 200 meters in circumference and that cost 220 million dollars to build and maintain till today. I was expecting to see a state of the art facility but what I learned and saw that day truly did blow me away and I can confidently say that this excursion was the best one I have ever had so far. Let me tell you why this was the case.
We got to the Monash clayton synchrotron campus where we explored the reception building which had one interesting place - a café called the “The Kitchen Synch Café” a very clever intellectual pun and wordplay if I say so myself (after all - the researchers often do come there and get a quick bite - hence it is quite fitting name).
We were split into two groups. Ours headed off to do some practicals that were needed for our SAC. Doing such hands-on activities to understand synchrotron concepts made the whole area of study enjoyable and I would dare say that this was the most fun I have had with a SAC. Messing around with high voltages and high speed electrons was certainly very interesting. After this part of the excursion was done we went for a quick break in the lovely before mentioned café. After our break we went towards the main attraction, the huge circular building which housed the massive Syncthron.
We toured the facility, exploring the two levels of the synchrotron and getting an overview of the whole place. When I heard it was as big as a football field I thought : "well okay, nothing too special I guess", but seeing the football field sized space filled with tubes, stainless steel compartments and massive beams across the roof with almost endless amount of machinery stretching into the far end was unbelievable!
It really is hard to appreciate the scale of this amazing facility unless you see it for yourself. These images don't do any justice on emphasizing the scale and magnificence of such sophisticated machinery all working in perfect harmony in conjunction with each other 24/7. Yes you heard it right the synchrotron is active and works around the clock pumping out results and assisting in world changing pivotal research work.
We also learnt that researchers from all over the world come specifically to this very campus to conduct their research. There was a world map with pins showing where each researcher had come from and the wide range of nationalities this synchrotron had hosted was truly mind boggling.
As with all good things, the excursion also had to come to an end. We bid adieu to our awe inspiring guides who who showed us around the institution and helped us with the practicals. They were amazing to say the least!
I was exhausted at the end of the day, but in a good way. I had put all of my excitement and energy into the excursion and was not left disappointed. I am grateful for taking part in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I would like to thank the school for facilitating this trip and our two lovely physics teachers who were equally or even more excited than us students to take part and lead this excursion. Thank you Miss Christina Mehegan and Miss Vandana Kshatriya for being a part of this very memorable trip. Your effort into making sure this excursion was a success truly did reflect and inspire me and many other students to give our utmost best for this SAC.
From right to left - Miss Vandana Kshatriya ,
Anirudhan Rengasamy and Miss Christina Mehegan
by Anirudhan Rengasamy