Four secondary Snowy Monaro school students with a passion for science were selected to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) held in Canberra last month, and were assisted through sponsorship from community service club, Cooma Rotary.

The Year 12 students, Josie Holfter (Monaro High School), Kaitlin Bosco (St Mary MacKillop College), Molly Taylor (St Mary MacKillop College) and Chelsea Olguin (Monaro High School), along with hundreds of others from across Australia, spent nine days of their school holiday break at the forum last month.

The two summer sessions were held at the ANU, which the four local students attended and the other at University of Queensland.

The National Youth Science Forum is a program for students entering Year 12 designed to give interested students a broader understanding of the diverse study and career options available in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

The application process for selection was comprehensive, Josie said.

“There were about five questions in the application and you had to answer each one about why you liked STEM, what you’d like to do in STEM, why the program would benefit you,” Josie said.

“I think there were just over 220 at each campus. All four of us were sponsored by Cooma Rotary, Rotary paid for half our fees to attend, a couple of us also received some assistance from Cooma Lions Club,” Josie said who is the president of the Leo Club at Monaro High School.

“We were very grateful the clubs did that for us, because the program was so beneficial.

“It was such a wonderful program and gave us so much more knowledge about the industry.”

Staying on campus, students were immersed in science and technology.

They participated in tours of science and technology facilities, learnt about cutting-edge research, engaged with industry partners and research providers, learnt about university, training and STEM career pathways, mixed with like-minded students their age from all over Australia, participated in social and team building activities and networked with former NYSF participants.

Delivered by youth for youth, alumni of the program return each year to help deliver each session through the NYSF Student Staff Leadership program.

“The main thing we all took away from the forum is that there is so much more out there than what is traditionally taught in the science field at school. It really helped direct us into our careers.

“I am aiming to do a science degree at uni in Canberra, something biology-related. We got to meet professionals in the field we are interested in, which was good,” Josie said.