Each year the Rotary Club of Berwick sponsors a Year 11 student to attend the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in January. This national not-for-profit organisation enjoys high-level support with the Chief Scientist of Australia as its Science Patron. The Forum aims to nurture and encourage young Australians to be the next generation of leading scientists and engineers supporting a sustainable future for our nation.
 
Applications are invited from local schools and the applicants are interviewed to assess their interest in and passion for science. This years’ successful candidate was 16 year old Benjamin Mackinlay from Haileybury College. Ben gave a terrific presentation to the Club members on his experience at the Forum, which he considered to be a life-changing experience. He stated that no superlatives adequately describe the experience that he gained.  His letter below summarises his thoughts very well.
“To the Executives, Directors and members of the Berwick Rotary Club.
I'm writing this email to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation for sponsoring me to attend the tremendous opportunity which is the National Youth Science Forum. 
On the 19th of January, I arrived at The Australian National University's Burgmann College alongside almost two-hundred students from all around Australia, and even five international students: two from Brazil, two from South Africa, and one from Zimbabwe. I must admit that upon my arrival I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed when being confronted with such a large number of teenagers, but I believe that as a result of this exposure I've been changed for the better - I can confidently say that I was able to connect with each and every individual on the program through a number of ways, if not just our genuine love for science.
 
The NYSF program consisted of a mix of scientific, formal, developmental, and social activities. In the early stages of the journey, we were fortunate enough to experience an educational tour of Parliament House, visit the various iconic sites of Canberra such as the Australian National Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, and immerse ourselves within the incredible historical contents of the Australian War Memorial and pay our respects to the brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of our country.
As you can imagine, my favourite part about the NYSF was indeed the exposure to the true scientific world. I was rather disappointed when I came to the realisation that the sciences that we're taught in school only equate to a minuscule portion of what each field truly has to offer, but this disappointment turned to excitement when I began hearing about things beyond what I'd ever considered before! Things like geotechnical engineering, environmental toxicology, and astrophysics. I've decided that I one day hope to have a positive influence in the educational world, allowing teenagers like myself see that Science goes further than its three fundamental areas, that is, further than the school-taught Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.
We were fortunate enough to do a range of lab visits -- I'd describe them as either incredible or amazing, but I honestly believe that regardless of the words I use, it'd still be an understatement. Being a member of the Environmental and Earth Sciences group (a group of fourteen amazing people whom I miss dearly), I visited places such as the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, where we controlled the famous Parkes radio telescope under the guidance of professional astronomers to gather live data from pulsars, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, where we learnt about the issues which face the Murray-Darling Basin and the role that Science has on policy, and Geoscience Australia, where we used a range of different methods to gather data from a particular site, and used said data to determine whether it was possible bore-water was located within it.
 
My highlight of the trip was a live video conference with Dr. Rolf Landua from CERN about the Large Hadron Collider, which is a machine (or combination of machines) which is twenty-three kilometres in diameter and borders France and Switzerland, that speeds protons up to 99.6% of the speed of light (almost 300,000,000 metres per second) and smashes them together to determine what they're made of, in which we were able to ask a range of questions, such as whether a theoretical 'white hole' which produces matter was possible - the short answer to that question being that there isn't an answer.
I feel as though I'm eternally in your debt for sending me on this incredible experience, and I'm astronomically grateful for your incredible hospitality.
If there's ever anything I can do to help the club out, whether it be anything from advertising to flipping sausages, please do not hesitate to ask!
Once again, Berwick Rotary Club, thank you. It truly was a life-changing experience.
Regards,
Ben Mackinlay
 
Sponsors