Assembly Address - 31 July

Girl Power in STEM

Julia Le addressed the recent school assembly and shared her experiences at the Girl Power in STEM program held at the University of Melbourne. 

Good morning everyone.

My name is Julia and I am the Middle School STEM domain leader.

Last term, I successfully applied for the University of Melbourne Girl Power in STEM program. The program is for female high school students, which hopes to promote gender parity in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The aim of the program is to inspire female students about the exciting possibilities of STEM over the course of four years.

With over 350 applications received this year and only 30 places available, the selection process was extremely competitive. The application process consisted of completing an online application, providing a recommendation letter from a teacher and a short telephone interview.

During the Term 2 holiday break, I stayed at the University of Melbourne Parkville campus at Trinity College. The program focussed on Engineering and IT activities and hands-on interactive workshops. We also had the opportunity to learn from Engineering students and academics, and had a networking session to discuss issues in STEM. It was very inspiring to listen to their struggles and how they overcame them. They also shared their advice and insights on the industry.

There were a few highlights from this camp. I enjoyed learning about humanitarian engineering from Engineering Without Borders. They are an organisation that creates social value through engineering. We learnt how to develop a clean water system through different methods of water filtration, which is used in developing countries around the world. It made me think about how engineering can have an impact on the way we live.

Robogals ran a programming and coding workshop using Lego Mindstorm robots. We could make robots move by putting in different strings of coding. Additionally, we learnt how to use Arduino. We did some programming and uploaded the data to the circuit board to make the motors run and the lights to blink.

Over the course of four days, we were challenged to create a video to investigate the issues in STEM and to celebrate a female profile in STEM that has made a major impact in society. My group talked about the low numbers of women in STEM and how we could break barriers to overcome this.

Reflecting back on this camp, I have gained many valuable lessons and insights. I learnt that there should be a stronger emphasis on encouraging young girls to study STEM and that the career pathways in STEM are endless. I was fortunate to meet other high school students around Victoria who shared the same passion and interest as me.

I hope to use the ideas and skills that I have learnt to promote STEM here at our school. I would encourage Junior School students who have a strong passion in STEM to apply for the program as it is a fantastic opportunity to engage in STEM activities.

Next year, I will be returning to the program and will have the opportunity to complete my work experience in the Faculty of Science, which I’m very excited about.

I would like also like to thank Ms Briedis for her support throughout my application and for encouraging me to apply for this program.

Just a quick message from the Science and STEM domain leaders is that we have created a school science Instagram account for those who are interested and would like to know what is happening around the school in science. The username of the account is MGSC.SCIENCE.

Also, Science Week is coming up so please keep an eye out for announcements and posters around the school. There will be fun activities including making ice cream so please look forward to it! Thank you.

Julia Le (Year 9)

Address by College Vice Captain 

We are back. Term 3. Week 3. 

I know most of you would have spent your holidays binge watching movies and TV shows, avoiding the pile of homework sitting in the corner of your room.  Well, I spent my holidays trying to figure out if Keke did really love me and I have come to the conclusion, even after watching all the challenges on Facebook, the answer is a 'no'.

Seeing this challenge 24/7 made me realise that everyone here is connected with someone, somewhere on the other side of the world. Through the internet using Snapchat to watch sister snaps from James Charles or more importantly keeping up with international news such as the FIFA World Cup and as much as I hate to admit this - it didn't come home.

But enough about Drake and FIFA. Australia as a country has a rich social diversity of people from different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. This rich cultural diversity is one of our country's strengths. We are home to 270 different cultures and ancestries. One way we can connect with different cultures and countries is through ... Buzzfeed. Yes Buzzfeed.  No this is not a promo but it might as well be one. We can connect with each other through national news, international news and fake news all while doing a quiz to find out what type of cheese we really are and seeing if someone across the world is the same type of cheese in the comments below.

With Australia being one of the most diverse countries it gives us an opportunity to experience and understand all the different cultural foods, lifestyles, beliefs and practices. It also allows those who choose to call Australia home, the right to practise and share their cultural traditions and languages within the law and free from discrimination. 

Almost a quarter of us were born overseas, and four million Australians speak a language other than English. Australia has an important heritage from its indigenous people, which plays a defining role in the cultural landscape. This diversity of influences creates a cultural environment in Australia that is lively, energised, innovative and outward looking.

We, as young people, can help Australia become more of a united community by joining forces in Melbourne with 'gal pals' to discover that one intro song from Love Island. We can change the ways of new multicultural generations by educating them with iconic Aussie slang and song lyrics for everyone to experience our culture. 

So help Australia out. The beauty of our country lies in the diversity of our people. Make that change and quote some Steve Irwin today.

Thank you

Ruby Crofts (Year 11)