Congratulations! to our group of science students who created Biodiesel and took out first place in the 2022 Young Scientist of Wyndham Competition

It all started with a big plan of integrating sustainability in Wyndham City, and then showcasing the project during National Science Week at school. This led to submitting a video of the project for 2022 Wyndham Young Scientist Contest.

We are so proud of a group of our science students who have been working incredibly hard over the past three months on their sustainability project in the lead up to National Science Week. The students worked tirelessly to create Biodiesel - a renewable low emission fuel made from vegetable oil.

Students pictured (back row left to right): Simon W. ,Raj P., Abel P., Adrian G., Charles A., Sahiba S., Reese Heleina. Front: Simran K - Laboratory technician, Juhee U., Mia Y., and Eki Chan - Head of Domain Science.

Their project was submitted to the 2022 Wyndham Young Scientist Contest hosted by Young Minds of Wyndham. The student's project was selected and shortlisted, to be presented to a panel of three judges, in competition with other schools in the region.

There were some exciting projects from other schools in the region, including:

-Repurposing old PC parts

-Dynamic bus routes

-Smart bus routes

-Biodegradable fashion material

-Mycological-based biodegradable materials

-Eutrophication filters

-Enviro-friendly fun.

The students presenting were Abel P, Mia Y, Juhee and Raj P. The students presented their model to the panel on Saturday 3rd of September 2022, and they took out first place!

Check out the student's video submission here:

Eki Chan

Head of Domain Science

A few words from our students about the 2022 Wyndham Young Scientist Competition experience:

The whole experience felt quite overwhelming. We were the first people at the venue and we started practising and the other participants walked in. The other participants' ideas were very interesting. THere was a smart bus stop, participants with business cards, and participants dressed in plastic. We set up and presented to each judge separately. The first judge seemed unphased, we weren't able to tell what he was thinking so we were a little nervous. The second judge seemed bored so we rushed to finish. The last and final judge was very cheery and made casual conversation while we presented which put us at ease. We ate and then waited as the results were being read out. When they announced that we had won first place, it made me feel at ease and happy. All our hard work, trials, and time after school paid off. :)

Juhee U.

Student - Winner of 2022 Wyndham Young Scientists Contest

As sustainable solutions are becoming ever more important for fixing climate change, we decide to do our part and demonstrate what a group of year 11 science students can do to help. Our group consisted of year 11 students, Juhee, Mia, Adrian, Simon, Sahiba, Heleina, Julie, Jennifer, Raj, who are undergoing a range of science, maths and art subjects. In line with our sustainability goal, we chose biodiesel. Biodiesel is a sustainable, environmentally friendly and alternate fuel to diesel that is made from used vegetable oil (Cooking oil) that we sourced from our school food tech room. Thanks to Carly who gave us a huge bottle of used vegetable oil. After a few trials and errors, we successfully made biodiesel and were even able to use the by-product of biodiesel to create biodegradable plastic. We then presented our project to experienced judges with a range of science backgrounds at the Wyndham young scientist competition. We went against many students, some with detailed model cities, recycled fashion, smart bus stops and bricks made from mushrooms. When it came to judging, we won first place for years 10-12. Overall this was an amazing opportunity to apply our knowledge of science to a real world problem, climate change and waste. Most of all this wouldn’t have happened without Eki Chan agreeing to our project, Harsimranjit Kaur, the School science Lab technician who always prepared the materials required and put in the time to stay back and help us, Karl Wild for guiding us through this project and finally George Ghobrial for helping us with the chemistry behind the biodiesel and greatly helping to fix the biodiesel when it went a bit wrong. So thank you to all the teachers, staff and students who made this project a reality and I do hope the future year 10, 11 and 12 students participate in future STEM projects and win!

Abel P.

Student - Winner of 2022 Wyndham Young Scientists Contest

Wellbeing