More than 300 female students gather to create a big STEM spark

Students from across the region come together for a conference to open up a world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths possibilities for our girls.

More than 300 female students in years four to ten from schools across southeast Queensland including Fairholme College, Haden State School, Laidley District State School, Mary MacKillop College, Nanango State High School, St Peter’s Lutheran and St Ursula’s came together at St Saviour’s College last week for the It takes a SPARK! STEM Conference.

The hands on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths workshops were an expo style event to encourage more girls to pursue STEM subjects in High School an university.

Participants had the opportunity to connect with inspiring industry role models, share some of their current school based activities and projects with one another, create networks of teachers and student teams, and solve real life design challenges.

There were several STEM based displays on offer during the expo portion of the event including USQ’s Robot Dog, EdWOODcation Drones, UQ Interactive IT, St Saviour’s Playdough Circuits, Assumption College Melting Metal and OzGrav’s Virtual Reality demonstration.

St Saviour’s year eight student and biology enthusiast Esther-Leigh Watts said the conference was great way for students to better understand how the STEM industry can offer an enormous range of career opportunities and chances to help make a better world.

St Saviour's College student Esther-Leigh Watts with SolarBuddy lights, designed for communities living in energy poverty, at the It Takes a SPARK! STEM conference hosted by St Saviour's College. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“I was just listening in on the SolarBuddy demonstration, it’s a little light they produce and distribute to countries living in energy poverty so that they can do things at night without having to burn firewood in their home as a light source,” she said.

“STEM is definitely something I’m thinking about studying going forward as it’s so interesting to me seeing how so many different organisms can live and work together and seeing how we can use science and technology to do a range of things around the world.”