Inspiring STEM+ Program

This year, we are thrilled to partner with Laing O’Rourke to offer interested Year 9 students a two-year program that will offer insight into careers in engineering and construction. Laing O’Rourke is a family-owned, international construction company.

Late last year, several representatives from Laing O’Rourke spoke to our students about the company and the different sorts of opportunities that are available within the industry. We were delighted to have 74 students express interest in the Inspiring STEM+ Program. Here are some snippets of what students had to say in their applications.

‘I would like to be a part of this program because I would like to broaden my experience and see if I would potentially want to work in STEM. I didn’t think at the start of the presentation I would be interested in a job in STEM, but I have now changed my mind.’

‘I would be very grateful to be a part of this program as I believe that this opportunity to learn about different careers in STEM and construction would benefit me significantly. We don’t have access to opportunities as beneficial as this one very often and I think it’s amazing how the company prioritises getting more women involved with STEM!’

‘STEM isn’t something I seriously considered until learning about this company and program. There are so many areas and ways in which different people help in producing the final result. What draws me in the most is the design and creative part of it, as well as the environmentally friendly aspect.’

‘I would like to be able to experience something new and embrace a new challenge in an area I’m not overly familiar with. I feel this would be a great opportunity prior to beginning VCE to see potential career paths that I might not otherwise explore.’

‘I am highly interested in this program because I feel strongly for STEM and I believe that females in STEM is something that needs to be seen more often. Being a part of the program will open lots of doors to different job opportunities for when I am older, I will also develop and use the much-needed skill of communication and working in groups.’

Program Launch

On Wednesday 15 February, we hosted an event to kick-off the Inspiring STEM+ Program. While our students broke off into smaller groups to participate in a STEM challenge, building a tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti, parents participated in a Q and A with Laing O’Rourke employees to hear more about the values of the company and the benefits of the program.

Laing O’Rourke has set a target to ensure the number of men and women employed in its international staff are equal by 2033. With this in mind, we are so excited at the prospect of our students having the opportunity to shape the future of STEM industries. Students will participate in one module a term for the next two years, with the first module being held on 29 March.

STEM Leaders

We are delighted to be working with Hayley Meure and Angelique Vargheese as our STEM Leaders for 2023. Both Hayley and Angelique are passionate about promoting STEM at Kilbreda and getting all students involved and excited about STEM subjects and extracurricular activities. Below, we meet Hayley. Angelique features in the Digital Technologies article in this issue.

Hayley Meure

Hey! I’m Hayley Meure and I am one of the STEM Leaders for this year, an opportunity I am really excited about. I am currently taking VCE Specialist Mathematics, Mathematical Methods, Physics and Chemistry. Basically, it is safe to say that while I love all forms of STEM, I am particularly partial to those that heavily rely upon any sort of Math.

One of my favourite STEM moments at Kilbreda was doing Titration in Chemistry last year. It is essentially where we use one solution with a known concentration to find the concentration of a solution that is unknown. And yes, this particular experiment relied heavily upon calculations (more Math, so YAY) but it was by far one of my favourites because it represented the ideas of atomic mass and atomic theory in a way that was tangible. So, when our predictions ended up being close(ish) to what we got it felt like I could actually see and quantify these particles so small that they can’t ever be directly experienced.

STEM is important to me because it unlocks a new way of understanding the world; be it learning about centripetal force in Physics and discovering it was not AT ALL what I thought it was or learning about new and albeit a little confusing sequences and series that crop up in places I wouldn’t have expected.

STEM is a field heavily dominated by men, so what is most important is ensuring that every person of any gender has the opportunity to try STEM and maybe find something with its many areas that they enjoy.

New Staff

We are thrilled to welcome Emily Aherne, Amelia Brooks and Louise Mansfield to Kilbreda and to the Science team. We’re grateful for the talents and expertise they bring to our department and look forward to walking along side them on their Kilbreda journey.

In the Wild World of Science

Our Year 9 classes are currently studying the structure of the atom, where students learn about the subatomic particles that make up atoms: protons, neutrons and electrons. But things are a bit crazier than that: these subatomic particles are composed of even smaller building blocks, fun things like quarks and gluons!

In a novel experiment, the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory used the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to crash gold particles together to learn more about the arrangement of protons and neutrons within the gold atom. With these components too small to see with any imaging technology, particle colliders allow researchers to map their distribution within a nucleus.

To learn more about rho particles, pions, and up and down anti-quarks, see HERE or ask a Year 9 student.

Sarah Chuck
Learning Leader: Science