Community & Business
12 November, 2024
Local students excel in science competition
Students from Clifton High, Pilton, Back Plains and Nobby state schools have received accolades from this year’s Hermitage Research Facility Plant Science Competition.
Over 3,500 budding young scientists turned their minds to sustainable fishing and farming as part of this competition.
Students ranging from prep to year 12 participated, with 129 schools from across Australia represented.
Winners were announced last month at a special event at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Hermitage Research Facility near Warwick.
Competing in a range of categories, students experienced first-hand the important role aquaculture and agriculture play in food security, and how sustainable fishing and farming practices protect vital ecosystems.
Two new awards were offered this year, the Alan Cruickshank Memorial ‘Germinator’ Outstanding STEM Teacher Award and the Earthwatch Student Challenge Fellowship.
The Earthwatch Student Challenge Fellowship, sponsored by Earthwatch Australia, gives one student the opportunity to experience environmental research first-hand.
The winner, year 12 student Maisie Atwell from Clifton State High School, will work alongside leading scientists in a week-long expedition this year along the banks of the Murray River in South Australia; an experience valued at $5,000.
Jade King, agriculture teacher from the Glasshouse Christian College, won the Outstanding STEM Teacher Award
Other major individual science prizes were awarded to students from across Australia.
The competition’s Art in AgRiculTure section saw students intertwine science with art to create fin-tastic, fisheries-themed artworks, resulting in a gill-iant collection of pencil sketches, paintings, sculptures and storybooks.
Students from Glennie Heights State School and Warwick West State School won the top art prizes of ‘Most Outstanding School’, with Warwick East State School and Coffs Harbour Christian Community School receiving runner-up prizes.
A third component of the competition, in partnership with Guardians of Earth, involved students worldwide participating in a citizen science biosecurity-themed adventure that involved monitoring animals and organisms that invade plants via a mobile gaming app.
The 2024 Guardians of Earth ‘Pest Invaders’ BioQuest attracted 356 participants with 1,194 species monitored.
Player ‘The Owl Whisperer’ from Miallo State School in Far North Queensland was crowned the Overall BioQuest Champion, securing an environmental-themed experience in the Cairns region valued at $1,000.
Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition major sponsors include DAF, Guardians of Earth, Earthwatch Australia, the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
All the local winners were:
John and Chris Purdie Young Science Investigator Award -
Runner-up: William Wilson, year 2, Pilton.
Fishing & Farming for the Future’ Plant Science Project Awards Section -
Year 10-12 Highly Commended Award: Maisie Atwell (year 12) Clifton High
Year 3-6 Highly Commended Award: Willow Heath (year 6) Nobby.
Year P-2 J & C Purdie Young Science Investigator Award Runner up: William Wilson (year 2) Pilton. Highly Commended Award: Hunter James and Darcy Stepanoff (year P), Rosie Rice and Florence Wilson (year 1) and Oliver Dore (year 2) Pilton, Jack Potts (year 2) Nobby. Overall Class 2nd Prize: Years P-2, Pilton.
‘Fishing & Farming for the Future’ Art in AgRiculTure Awards Section -
Most Outstanding School Highly Commended: Years 3-6, Pilton.
Year Prep Winner: Toby Miller, Back Plains. Runner-up: Charlotte Lindley & Charlotte Lindle, Pilton.
Year 1 Winner: Jock Withers, Back Plains. Highly Commended: Tommy Hancock, Back Plains.
Year 6 Highly Commended: Hugh Spain, Nobby.
