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National Youth Science Forum
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NYSF....Here We Come!
 On January 9th we will hop on a plane in Sydney with around 24 other very excited Yr 12's to experience 12 days packed with the sort of opportunities science students can only dream of. We're going to be giving you updates of everything we experience on our journey from the orientation night, through the Forum itself and beyond. We're pretty sure it's going to be a life-changing experience for us and hope it will inspire you to get your own application in. Watch film of last years NYSF by clicking here! Background: The National Youth Science Foundation was founded in 1984. It is run in association with the Rotary Club of Australia. Its main objective is to guide Year 12 students who are interested in a career in science, engineering or technology so that they make more informed choices regarding the field they follow...because as fields go, science is a field the size of the planet! They are also given training in time management, interview skills and public speaking. Oh, then there's the bush dancing, singing, disco's, games and chanting...a very important part of science you understand! There are three sessions; A and C are in Canberra and B takes place in Perth. We're on session B on the 9th January in Perth (we were going to Canberra but got changed). Each session lasts for 12 days with a day in the middle with a local Rotary family where you get the chance to catch-up on sleep and washing!  Thursday 1st September - Orientation night at Chatswood. An amazing night - listened to Graeme Davis of Rotary tell us a bit about what they do. This left us feeling very excited to be at the start of a long relationship with Rotary. Then Dr Nick Dorsch...yes, a real live brain surgeon...spoke about brain aneurysms, research and the engineering that goes into the gidgets they use to clamp aneuysms off. Then Geoffrey Burchfield, Director of NYSF spoke about all the experiences and opportunities we were going to have as NYSF participants. We were so excited at this point we could have leapt from our seats and jumped up and down....thankfully, we restrained ourselves! We then had food, drink and the chance to meet our fellow 24 NYSF'ers. Everyone was SO lovely, friendly and interesting. Honestly, it felt like we'd known them for ages! We then heard from a past NYSF'er and NYSF parent. The whole evening was hosted by Rotarian, Noel Cislowski, who's brilliant....and very calm! We got an impromptu introduction to public speaking as we all had to stand up and introduce ourselves in a nutshell. Then we received our 'plum pudding' badges. Ours are red, the colour for 2012. They called plum puddings as they have the NYSF logo on which is a picture of the Shine Dome at ANU.    The Shine Dome at ANU NYSF Logo Us with our plum pudding badges Monday September 5th -  21st September - Well, guess what? We're no longer off to Canberra, seems we're off to Perth!!! At first we were really disappointed as we'd kind of bonded with our Canberra NYSF'ers. But...always up for a challenge, Perth here we come!26-27th September - We're in Canberra, at the Shine Dome! Nothing 'really' to do with NYSF, but we're down here wagging school so we can attend the 'Geo-Engineering the Climate' Conference. Scary stuff! It's all about what we might have to do to keep our ailing planet limping along. We've learnt lots, met fabulous & friendly scientists, one very strange man telling us we're all going to die, and confirmed that scientists sometimes just aren't very good at the old 'whipping your audience into a frenzy of interest' presentation tactic. Anyhow, will be writing more on the conference at some point. October - The two Rotary groups sponsoring us are: Norwest Sunrise Rotary Club (100% sponsorship of Freya) Hills-Kellyville Rotary Club (50% sponsorship of Immie) So we need to raise 50% of a fee ($1125). We thought we could busk and sell stuff on a market stall. Problem - instruments need insuring and we have to have stall holder insurance for the market. To the rescue - two lovely insurance companies who have agreed to pay for our insurance. A big thank you to Marsh Insurance and Freeman McMurrick. November - Rupert has wielded the NYSF sorting hat and we've been put into our Groups - think the hat got us twins mixed-up though. Also got our 'buddies' - do we swap groups, buddies...aagh, what to do? Thursday 10th Nov - Off to meet Freya's Rotary group (Immie goes too!). Journalist coming to do story about us going to NYSF. Sunday 1st Jan 2012 - Happy New Year! No time to relax, we're billeting FOUR NYSO students from Perth who are heading to Canberra Session A. Curtis, Alison, Lily and Alex are all wonderful. Next day we wave them off ....got to wait another week for ours. Sunday 8th Jan - Wah! How come the time went SO fast. Got to pack, print tickets, mum is going insane contacting all her friends in Perth as emergency contacts 'just in case'. Monday 9th Jan - Will write this when we return!!! |
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