11 Mar 2021
Year 11 students Jackson O'Rourke, Zac Morgan, Hannah Stewart, Joris Vaskys, Sam Barratt, Jonah Hyland, and Head Teacher Science Lisa Hall facilitated the Science Night at the Rotary Club of Port Macquarie on Wednesday evening.
Have you ever wondered how tall buildings stay up? Why do skyscrapers not fall when the wind hits them? Engineers work with architects and scientists to understand what makes materials break and then use what they learn to design strong structures.
The challenge put forward to Rotary members was to figure out how to design and build a free-standing structure in 10 minutes that is as tall and strong as possible, using only marshmallows and spaghetti and place a Lego figurine on top of the frame.
Miss Hall introduced the student leaders at each table and judged the structures. She was very impressed with the collaboration, teamwork, planning and design that took place within the groups. The winning tower measured 77 cm.
When community groups, like The Rotary Club of Port Macquarie, work with schools, families and students to support education and open the door to new experiences and opportunity, an amazing situation occurs.
Studies have shown that children raised in a community are more likely to stay in school longer, achieve better individual outcomes and enjoy school more. They tend to focus on self-improvement and higher grades.
Individuals raised in a community are more likely to go on to employment, apprenticeships, traineeships and further studies. As members of society, they have better social skills, can think creatively and can quickly adapt to new situations. This will become even more critical as we educate our kids for careers that don’t even exist yet.
Thank you Rotary Members for including us as part of your Science evening.
