The event saw students from Wauchope High School showcase their work against students from Hastings Secondary College Port Campus and Westport Campus.

Students in Year 8 worked in groups to present their Techno Task, where they looked at how a chosen technology has changed over time and assessed its impact on society.

Susie Coster, India Evans and Emily Bell chose to do their Techno Task on prosthetics/artificial limbs, as Susie had a special connection with the subject.

“It is with my Dad, as he is a prosthetic user.  He had an accident a few years ago and lost an upper limb above the elbow,” she said.

India said the girls were very interested in how it works and enables everyday people who have had an accident to continue to live the way they want.

Year 10 students presented their Student Research Project (SRP), where they were required to develop a question for scientific investigation, then design, conduct, analyse and communicate the results of that investigation.

Over the course of the day, 800 primary school students crowded into the auditorium at Port Panthers to vote for their favourite projects in the People’s Choice category, while a large panel of judges from within the local community assessed to projects to determine the winners of the Judges’ Award.

Wauchope High School students were successful in receiving three of the four major awards:

Year 8 Techno Task- Judges’ Award: Antonia Visvikis and Ebony Baker (Robots). Teammates Jasmine Thompson and Jedd Faint were not present on the day but also contributed to the project.

Year 8 Techno Task- People’s Choice: Antonia Visvikis and Ebony Baker (Robots)

Year 10 SRP- People’s Choice: Larnah Smith (The effect of different fats on the stability of icing at room temperature).

Certificates were also awarded for the top entries from within Wauchope High School. Ella Martin, Courtney Lowe, Charli Caller won both the Year 8 People’s Choice and Judges Awards for their project on the technology of limb amputation.

In Year 10, Chad McGovern won the Judges Award for his investigation into how exercise affects brain function, while Ellie McKittrick won the People’s Choice for her investigations of whether Gatorade affects reaction time.

The judges were all very impressed at how enthusiastic and knowledgeable the students were on their chosen topics, with many commenting on how well they presented themselves.

Even the students who didn’t come away at the end of the day with a prize, recognised the value of being given the opportunity to learn and educate others on a topic that they are passionate about.