Skip to main content
search
All Posts By

Nicole Butler

Mar 31 2023

Awards Night – celebrating achievements in 2022!

By Awards, Events, News

In2science’s gala event, our annual Awards Night, returned to Science Gallery Melbourne in December 2022. Mentors, students, teachers, government and industry representatives, and the In2science team all gathered in the newly renovated Black Box Theatre to celebrate the achievements of In2science participants. 2022 saw the return to a more ‘normal’ form of education for all, and this was thoroughly embraced by our mentors and schools. Metropolitan-based mentors were excited to be back amongst their students in the classroom, while our eMentors enthusiastically engaged with their regional eMentees via the online mode of our program.

Awards Night began with an Acknowledgement of Country and speech from newly appointed In2science Program Director Dr Gabby Goldberg. Gabby spoke of her excitement to tackle her new role as director and her vision for In2science’s future. This was followed by a welcoming speech from In2science Chair, The Hon. Prof. John Brumby AO, and an inspiring keynote delivered by Katie Thompson, Corporate Services General Manager at Toyota – proud partners of this event and the In2science program. Katie spoke about how important it is to encourage engagement with STEM learning, a task that all our mentors aspire to achieve.

The awards presentation kicked off with joint teacher winners Carolyn Drenen from Lalor North Secondary College and Maree Timms from Galen Catholic College. Carolyn and Maree are two of In2science’s biggest supporters, and together they have hosted nearly 30 placements! Carolyn and Maree were very deserving winners of the Mentor Support Teacher Award. The School Engagement Award followed, with joint winners Galen Catholic College and South Oakleigh College recognised for their continuous support and promotion of the program. The Outstanding Mentee Award was next, with an extraordinary 10 finalists! This year the award was given to Meryem Abdulrazzak from Epping Secondary College for always interacting with mentor Harrison and her continuous efforts to improve her schoolwork. Joint winner eMentee Hamish Meddings from Maffra Secondary College was recognised for enthusiastically sharing his passion for engineering with eMentor Stella.

There were six Mentor Award categories in 2022. STEM Champion award winner Ella Burgun from RMIT University was recognised for her passion in promoting STEM career paths to young people. The Dedication Award went to veteran mentor Joseph Araniakulathil from Swinburne University of Technology for his ongoing commitment to the program mentoring at his old high school. Our Connection award winner Maria Martha Kapetanea from La Trobe University was celebrated for overcoming challenges faced during her placement and finding new ways to interact with her mentees. Ciara Murphy from The University of Melbourne won the Impact Award, which was proudly sponsored by Toyota. Ciara was incredibly kind and supportive during her time in the classroom and worked hard to engage every student in the class.

The Mentor Leaders Program, which is an extension of In2science and pairs mentors with STEM Industry Professionals, has its own award (kindly sponsored by Toyota) which recognises mentors that fully embraced the program. Jaidyn Gluskie from RMIT University won this award in 2022 for his commitment to the program and his inspirational mentoring relationship with STEM Professional Dennis. The final award for the night, the Regional Impact Award, is given to an outstanding eMentor and this year it went to Georgia Eleftheriou for her continued work with eMentee Ashlee. Georgia really goes above and beyond for her eMentee (even inviting Ashlee to undertake work experience in her lab!) making her a very worthy winner.

Guests at the event were treated to two amazing speeches during the night. The first, from previous Outstanding Mentee Award recipient Ashlee Davey of Galen Catholic College, had the audience giggling at Ashlee’s experiences in the program. Guests may have also teared up a little as Ashlee thanked all her supporters, including her exceptional mentor, award-winner Georgia. The final speech of the night was from Swinburne University of Technology mentor Ally Vimpany. Ally spoke of the many different types of kids she encountered in her placement at Narre Warren South P-12 College and how she made an effort to find different techniques to interact and engage with them all. Ally said, “I would recommend the program to everyone studying STEM as a way to give back and inspire school children to also pursue further education in STEM. It has been a highlight of my life meeting and teaching such fantastic kids, and I can’t wait for another semester next year.”

Following the awards presentation and speeches, guests enjoyed drinks and an array of delicacies from a grazing table in the Western Gallery. Award winners and finalists proudly posed in front of the university banners with In2science and university representatives. Networking between student, mentor, teacher and industry attendees continued well into the evening. Feedback from the night was overwhelmingly positive and we can’t wait to do it all again in 2023!

Click here to read more about the 2022 Awards

Click here to access the 2022 Awards Photo Gallery

 

In2science would like to thank Science Gallery Melbourne for once again hosting this fabulous event. In2science is grateful for the generous support of our Program and Awards partners: Toyota Community Trust, CSL Behring, and the Department of Education and Training Victoria.

Mar 31 2023

The Mentor Leaders Program Wraps Up with an Exciting Event!

By Events, News

By Rachel Ella

At the end of 2022 we celebrated another successful year of the Mentor Leaders Program, made possible by the Toyota Community Trust, with a wrap up event at Toyota’s Corporate Offices in Port Melbourne. This program is designed to give In2science mentors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and mentoring skills the opportunity to be matched with STEM Professional Mentors and become In2science Leaders. The STEM Professionals provide mentorship to the In2science Leaders enabling them to gain insight into STEM career pathways and life after university. In 2022 we had 19 mentor/mentee pairs that met over a period of seven months and discussed an array of topics from how to stand out in a sea of graduates, to career planning and various pathways, to resume and interview tips and tricks, and everything in between!

Guests were welcomed and the event opened by Katarina Persic, Senior Community Foundation Coordinator at Toyota. We were treated to a fascinating presentation by Helen Tower, AS&T Senior Validation Specialist at CSL Seqirus. We learnt that, pre-COVID, the processes involved in developing and producing a vaccine were completed in a linear fashion and could take anywhere from 15-20 years due to lack of funding and scientific community focus. During COVID, the worldwide focus of scientists and increased amount government funding hastened this process, explaining why we were able to receive vaccines more quickly than was previously possible. It was a captivating presentation that answered many questions around the production of the COVID vaccines.

We then heard from one of our In2science Leaders, Jaidyn Gluskie, and his STEM Professional Mentor, Dennis Damsma, Studio Engineer & Milling Manager, Product Design and Product Planning & Development at Toyota Australia. Jaidyn and Dennis were one of our most successful pairings. Together they helped Jaidyn identify a true calling for the automotive engineering industry, born from an interest in motor racing, a passion they both share. Dennis’ mentoring helped Jaidyn build confidence in himself as a person and as a budding engineer which led to a six week internship in Dennis’ team at Toyota. They were both grateful for the opportunity provided by the MLP to work together, learn from each other, and build a successful mentoring relationship that will continue into the future.

Thank you to all our STEM Professional Mentors for volunteering your time to be part of the MLP and providing essential guidance to our In2science Leaders. Planning for the 2023 program is underway and more information will be released shortly. If you are keen to be involved, please reach out to Mentor Leaders Program Coordinator Rachel Ella.

Mar 31 2023

Tomorrow’s STEM industry in today’s classroom with Dr Cathy Foley

By Events, News

By Jarrod McKenna

In October 2022 In2science delivered an engaging forum for STEM teachers, industry professionals, and In2science mentors. In partnership with Engineers Australia (EA) and hosted by In2science Chair The Honourable Prof John Brumby AO, the forum highlighted the current challenges of teaching translatable and useful STEM skills and knowledge to Australia’s high school students. We were honoured to have Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley AO deliver an inspiring keynote speech. Dr Foley then joined fellow STEM professionals EA General Manager Alesha Printz, CEO and Founder of Indigital Mikaela Jade, Education Program Manager at Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) Cherida Longley, and Head of Programs at Bendigo Tech School Ember Chittenden for an engaging and enlightening panel discussion.

The panel noted how desperately short Australia is of engineers, and workshopped ways in which we can engage more people (women and girls, in particular) with engineering careers and study options. Alesha echoed Dr Foley’s call for greater investment in and support of women and girls in STEM, and shared EA’s TV advert emphasising the enormous variety of engineering jobs and their impact across several different industries. Cherida also highlighted the incredible success that RPV have had using Minecraft to reach the younger generations and show them in an engaging, exciting way how the Metro Tunnel projects are designed, managed, and operated – it’s about finding what grabs the attention and interest of the younger generations and using that to connect them with real-world engineering.

The discussion ended by calling for greater support of engineering and to change the perception of ‘what an engineer does or looks like’ (not all of them wear hi-vis and a hard hat!). Finding new ways to approach STEM education like designing programs to look through an Indigenous lens, engaging with local tech schools and industry professionals, or even incorporating software like Minecraft into your outreach programs are all ways we are working to fill the hundreds of thousands of engineering jobs required by 2025 and to close the digital divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

In2science would like to thank EA for hosting the event, and all the speakers and panellists for sharing their thoughts, expertise, and words of advice for teachers and industry professionals to help better connect classrooms with real-world STEM.

 

Mar 31 2023

Inaugural Science Expo with CSL Behring

By News


By Jarrod McKenna

In June 2022, Hume Central Secondary College hosted their inaugural Science Expo partnering with In2science and CSL Behring. Year 7-9 students worked individually or in small groups to create an engaging, informative science activity, poster, or experiment to be judged by a panel of expert scientists from CSL Behring.

Over two days and on both the Blair Street and Dimboola Road Campuses, students presented on fascinating topics covering all corners of science – from elephant trunks to bacterial growth to chemical reactions! Students were joined by campus principals Mr Nick Bakatsoulas and Ms Vivienne Caravas, and Councillors Sam Misho and Karen Sherry of Hume City Council, who took part in the judging. Presentations were also judged by fellow Hume Central students with top teams being awarded the People’s Choice Award. Additionally, expert scientists from CSL Behring picked their top presentations – and it was a tight race! After much deliberation, the expert judges picked their winners, who were awarded with $50 gift vouchers!

Congratulations to all participating teams! In2science would like to thank CSL Behring for sponsoring the expo and judging the incredible presentations, and acknowledge Hume City Council’s support and commitment to science education in the region.

 
 
 
 

Close Menu