News

By Tordy Rowe

Although at In2science we predominantly work with secondary schools and their students, we are strong supporters of engagement with STEM at all ages. On Wednesday August 16, as part of National Science Week, In2science had the privilege of attending Ngarri Primary School’s STEM Celebration Afternoon. Deakin University mentors Jolene Rosca, a Bachelor of Psychological Science student, and Vaijayanti Kelkar, studying a Bachelor of Forensic Science and Bachelor of Criminology, represented In2science as exciting examples of what STEM can look like after school.

Jolene and Vaijayanti, both current In2science mentors at Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College, shared their stories with the gathered families before leading activities in forensic science and statistics. Vaijayanti’s forensic activity proved very popular, with students eagerly comparing their fingerprints to their parents’ and looking for similarities. Jolene shared a maths card trick with students, to much disbelief, until she explained and taught the statistical concepts behind it. Every family opted to engage in their activities, allowing both mentors to showcase their enthusiasm and knowledge about STEM and its endless possibilities.

As Jolene put it, “It was definitely a different experience, but seeing the students excited about the STEM activities was very heart-warming. It made me even more enthusiastic about studying my degree. Having the opportunity to inspire these students was very fulfilling, and I would love the opportunity to do it again.” In2science would like to thank Brittney and Ngarri Primary School for the opportunity to engage with the attending families, and we hope that we have inspired more school students to continue to study STEM.

At In2science, we love to provide opportunities for our mentors to go beyond the traditional structure of our program and are always looking for new ways to give back to the community. On Monday August 21, three of our outstanding mentors shared stories of their experiences at university with participants in the Student Ambassador program at Banyule Nillumbik Tech School in Greensborough. In2science was honoured to be invited to the Tech School’s Ambassador Day, and jumped at the chance to engage with the 41 year 7 to 10 students from the participating partner schools.

Rachel Ella, past mentor and current In2science Program Coordinator, opened the session by discussing the winding pathway she has taken to arrive at her degree, a Bachelor of Science majoring in Maths and Chemistry. Rachel’s engaging and humorous presentation described the many different paths she has followed and how they have led to her pursuing her dream of secondary school teaching. Rachel’s key message was that journeys in life almost never go straight from A to B. It is important to embrace all the twists and turns you encounter along the way as you head towards your end goal (which might also change!).

The next presenter was Vincent Cutugno, Bachelor of Psychological Science student at La Trobe University and mentor at Templestowe College. Vincent spoke openly about struggling to work out what he wanted to do in his future, and how he sought advice from lots of different places – friends, family, even online quizzes – before discovering his passion for psychology. Vincent’s advice for the students was that once they get to university it is vital they are prepared to take responsibility for their own learning, and to explore their options if they are not sure what to study.

Joshua Watkins, who is mentoring at Williamstown High School while studying a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Deakin University, had some fascinating insights on the challenges he faced when starting university in Australia after attending high school in Canada. He also spoke about how he created his own opportunities, such as undertaking an internship with CSIRO, while completing his degree. Joshua’s message to the students was that university can be daunting until you ‘find your people’ and build strong connections and support networks, which will make the experience even more enjoyable.

During the Q&A session, the Student Ambassadors had some incredibly insightful and thoughtful questions for the presenters. We were all extremely impressed by the consideration these young adults are giving to their future study and careers. We hope they found our advice – such as volunteering to gain experience – useful, and we are sure they will all make the most of forthcoming opportunities. In2science would like to thank Scott, Kayla, Maria and Anastasia from the Banyule Nillumbik Tech School for inviting us to their Ambassador Day. We wish the Student Ambassadors all the best for their futures, and we can’t wait to return to inspire more students to follow their passions.

By Rachel Ella

Templestowe College is a long-term supporter of the In2science program and offers our mentors amazing experiences. This semester one of our mentors was part of the year 8/9 Zoology class. The students in this class work with the animals they have living on campus… yes, that’s right… ‘lions and tigers and bears, oh my!’ Well, not quite – but lizards, snakes, fish, birds, and so much more! On a recent site visit, I was lucky enough to have a tour of the reptile program. These animals are housed in the classroom where the students have their lessons, how cool is that! I also got taken to the fish and eel enclosures where some of the students introduced me to their eel, Comet, and they showed me how they had trained Comet to swim through a hoop and touch his nose on a ball!

Comet’s training program was summarised by one of his student trainers: “In Zoology once a week we get to pay a visit to the fish program’s eel, Comet, to train him. When we train him, we use positive reinforcement to encourage him to swim through the ring like we’re currently doing. He’s come a long way since we first started training him – from simply bumping a bright ping-pong ball on the nose, to swimming through a ring effortlessly. Training Comet usually takes only two, sometimes three people – one holds the ring with the ping-pong ball behind it for him to swim through and bump his nose on, a second person to flash a torch into Comet’s tank to tell him he did what we wanted, and the third to feed Comet his fishy reward, and help him affiliate doing these tricks with snacks.”

We would like to thank Templestowe College and their teaching staff for their continued support of the In2science program. Templestowe College and all of our participating schools are the backbone of our program. Without your support our mentors could not inspire the next generation of STEM superstars!

By Rachel Ella

The story begins with Jaidyn, a Bachelor of Engineering student at RMIT University, who joined In2science in 2021 after meeting Will, the RMIT Program Coordinator at the time, at an online engineering expo. Jaidyn was immediately attracted to the In2science program because he was fortunate enough to be mentored in years 7 and 8 by his science teacher who “seeded” his interest in STEM. Jaidyn wanted to pay this experience forward, so he applied to be an In2science mentor.

During a successful placement at South Oakleigh College Jaidyn applied to be a part of our 2022 Mentor Leaders Program (MLP). The MLP is generously supported by Toyota Community Trust, and you can find out more about the amazing work they do in this companion article by Zach Wingrave. The MLP “flips the script” and the mentor becomes the mentee of an industry STEM Professional. Over a period of 8 months our In2science mentees had the opportunity to have regular meetings with their STEM Professional mentor to discuss career paths, interview techniques, resume writing, how to stand out in a crowd, and personal branding, among many other topics. Jaidyn took this opportunity with both hands and ran with it.

Jaidyn was paired with Dennis, Studio Engineering and Milling Manager at Toyota Australia. They shared a common interest in automotive engineering and a love of motorsport. Their meetings were held at the Toyota Centre of Excellence in Altona. During their meetings Jaidyn and Dennis would discuss Jaidyn’s career pathways, dissecting Jaidyn’s complicated thoughts about his future, as well as his presentation (resume building, interview skills, etc.) and his motorsport branding – Jaidyn is a passionate amateur rally driver. At the conclusion of the MLP in November last year, Jaidyn and Dennis spoke at our Wrap-up Event, describing the success of their mentoring relationship and the positive steps Jaidyn had taken in both his career path and personal branding in his motorsport pursuits. They also announced that Jaidyn had been offered a six-week internship at Toyota Australia as a Studio Engineering Coordinator in January 2023!

During the internship Jaidyn had “involvement in hand-clay modelling, 3D surface modelling for preparation of full-scale car, part design and prototyping and project management/Toyota design principles.” This is what Dennis had to say about Jaidyn at the completion of his internship:

“After being Jaidyn’s mentor last year, I got to know him very well and was impressed with his drive and passion. With the strong support from Toyota management, we were able to offer him the experience to temporarily work as Studio Engineer inside our design studio. He got exposed to all the different areas within our team; understanding not only the design‐thinking and development process, but also how Toyota approaches problems and works closely together to solve them. This is why I joined the In2science Mentor Leaders Program ‐ to give back to young STEM students and create motivated engineering leaders with real‐world experience.”

At the end of May 2023, Jaidyn commenced a part-time contract position as a Design Engineer to assist the Toyota Design Australia team with their sustainable development goals. This is what Jaidyn had to say just prior to commencing this position, about the opportunities he has been given:

“Surely, these opportunities would not have been presented if not for the generosity of Dennis, Toyota Design Australia, and the organisation of the student-mentor and MLP programs provided by In2science. For that, I truly am grateful and will continue to enjoy the student-mentor program and work hard when I start on Monday!”

So, the moral of the story… have the confidence to take your opportunities when they come your way. They may not come around a second time!

Thank you to Toyota Australia, Katarina Persic, and the team at Toyota Community Trust for their continued support of In2science and the MLP. A big thank you to Dennis for giving his time and expertise to mentor Jaidyn as part of the MLP. And congratulations to Jaidyn for having the confidence to back himself and work hard to attain the position he now holds at Toyota Australia. We hope you are proud of your achievements… I know we certainly are!