This week, Louisa from Pinehurst, Aryan and Jason from Westlake Boys, and Gabby and Helena from Carmel College joined us.
Our club sponsored the five Year 13 students to attend the 2025 Forum. They came to share their experiences during the 14-day live-in intensive course, which exposed 168 students from across NZ to science and technology tertiary pathways and careers. The students explained their participation in science and technology modules, technical visits, and fun forum activities. The modules were structured learning sessions focused on a specific field.
Each student shared their favourite module; they included Biological Science, Physics, Biomedical Science, Robotics and, to Jason’s surprise, Sports Science. For their technical visits, they were given a chance to explore companies and organisations, providing insight into how skills and training are applied in real-world industries. Each student had a different technical visit. At Rocket Lab, there was a full tour of the facility and a Q&A with the engineers. A visit to the Air Force provided an opportunity to see the Hercules C-130H before it retired and learn about space defence. At the Creative Design & Additive Manufacturing Lab, a journey into a realm where engineers advance research into materials and sustainable products. A visit to New Zealand Police allowed the exploration of fingerprint identification technology.
As much as the forum may be what the students considered ‘nerd camp,’ the non-academic activities pumped life into the two weeks. These included a trip to Rainbows End, Beach Day, a Disco, Bowling, Rock Climbing, Laser Tag, and the hotly contested Volleyball competition.
Each student shared how having completed the forum, they had cemented in their minds the university and career path they now wished to pursue. All wanted to stay in NZ for their tertiary studies. They were incredibly grateful for the opportunity and thanked the club for its sponsorship.
Their presentation was superb, and they masterfully answered several questions from our members. It is safe to say they are very talented students.