Science @ Merici
Last year, after a year of bushfires, smoke, hail and the impacts of Covid-19, I started my article by reflecting on the resilience of the Merici community, including the Science Department. As I sit here writing the 2021 article, while in an extended period of lockdown and waiting to teach my next class remotely, I reflect that once again it has been a highly unusual school year and that we perhaps will never be truly free of the impacts of Covid-19.
Staffing-wise, we welcomed back Oliver Barlow after a year’s leave in 2020 and Carolyn Stanhope took leave in Term 3. The other usual faces, Kathryn White, Ravi Dhillon, Giles Thomson, Jodie Muldoon and myself, all graced the inner sanctum of the Science labs, Rooms 104-210.
We bid farewell to Lynette Heydenrych mid-year as she went to pursue her lifelong passion to run a sustainable farm near Port Macquarie. We also said goodbye to Liz Moran, who left to take up a position at Canberra Hospital and welcomed the very capable Melissa Wakem into the upstairs preparation room.
Always with an eye to maintain quality Science teaching at Merici College we welcomed Erin Barry and Nazia Shirin to the department. Both experienced teachers, they thankfully settled in beautifully just before we were plunged into remote learning on 12 August.
In Term 3, Fiona Buining returned part-time to assist with the running of the kitchen garden. It has been great to have Fiona back as she is an invaluable asset to Erin, Felicity Maher (Sustainability Officer) and the whole SAM (Sustainability @ Merici) Club.
On a sad note, we lost Peter Hanisch, who unexpectedly passed away this year. Everyone in the Science Department would like to acknowledge the excellent years of service that Peter provided to education and the passion for Science that he shared with our own Merici students while filling short contracts and during relief lessons. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Peter’s family and he will be missed by all of us.
Scientifically there were many highlights. Rosary Primary School joined our Year 9 students for two Big Sister Science Days, Car Maintenance 101 through the Makerspace Club was very popular with senior students, and we were actively involved in Open Day, Information Evenings and Be a Merici Girl for a Day.
The two Engineering classes spent Semester 1 designing, testing and launching their own kit rockets, built using our 3D printers. Launches were run out at Yass with the ever-friendly and ever-helpful Canberra Rocketry Group. The students also competed in the Canberra chapter of the National Science and Engineering Challenge, with particular success in the water turbine and the bridge construction challenges. Thanks to Ashley Frater (Year 12) who did sterling work as a volunteer at the event.
During lockdown, three Merici students took part in a national webinar organised by the Academy of Social Sciences Australia on space exploration. Ishita Gupta (Year 8), Gabrielle Shoebridge (Year 9) and Aryana Niyakan Safy (Year 10) joined two Daramalan students, Dr. White, and Dr. Brad Tucker from the Mt. Stromlo Observatory to discuss their ideas and hopes for humanity’s exploration of the moon.
An enthusiastic cohort of students participated in the Big Science Competition this year, and particular mention goes to our High Distinction winners: Tara Holmes (Year 7); Subavee Kekulandara (Year 9), Gabrielle Shoebridge (Year 9), Sofia White (Year 9) and Aryana Niyakan-Safy (Year 10).
In Term 3, twenty-one students sat the Australian Science Olympiad exams. All the students are to be commended for their efforts in these highly challenging competitions; of note were Matilda Hanley and Aryana Niyakan-Safy (Distinctions in the Australian Junior Science Olympiad), Remy Yan (Distinction in both the Junior Science Olympiad and the Earth and Environmental Science Olympiad) and Ashley Frater (Distinction in the Chemistry Olympiad and High Distinctions in both the Physics Olympiad and the Earth and Environmental Olympiad). In addition, Georgia Tonkin (High Distinction in the Earth and Environmental Science Olympiad) is to be congratulated on her invitation to the national Earth and Environmental Science Olympiad summer school in January.
In Senior Chemistry, Caitlyn Crick, Rebecca Fergusson and Ashley Frater grabbed a top-ten place in the ACT Titration Stakes but sadly, at the time of writing, seem unlikely to have the chance to compete in the national competition because of lockdown.
Congratulations also go to Pragnya Gupta and Elizabeth Ween who have been accepted into the National Youth Science Forum’s Year 12 Program for 2022.
Generally, I am proud to say that Science remains a strong focus at Merici College with many students choosing our Engineering and Sustainability electives in Year 9 and 10 and continuing to study Science in Years 11 and 12. Science really does make the world go round.
I’ll end by making special note of the fact that the Science Department managed not to set off the fire alarm, not a single time this year so far, so in the words of Billy Joel “we didn’t start the fire. It was always burning, since the world was turning..”
Jo Aboud
Science Coordinator
