Study@Vic Day 2016
SCPS Physics Laboratory Coordinator Andy Ross presents a review of the 2016 Study@Vic Day.
The day before Study@Vic (26 August 2016) one of my learned colleagues informed me that the rush of prospective students would start at 8:30am in the morning, so we’d have to be set up and ready to go before then. In my naivety I found it hard to believe that students would pile in so early but with their words of caution ringing in my ears, I sleepily made sure that I was in work just after 7.00am.
With expert support from David Stead and our gang of demonstrators (Josh, Tane, Sarah S, Sarah O, Chhayly, Fergus and Kira) we soon had a fully loaded one and half table’s worth of experiments and things to catch the eye of the curious. The prior preparation was, it transpired, definitely worth doing because from 8.30am onwards we had a constant stream of prospective students and their parents.
Our competition was very popular too - guess the number of molecules in a bottle of water, and revealed some very able young scientists who I hope will come our way soon. In the middle of the day John Hannah gave a well received presentation to a keen audience and many excited comments along the lines of “Now I really want to do physics!” were heard. So well done to him.
We know that the positioning of our table wasn’t perfect and somehow we did manage to get through the day without ever fighting with our gooey chemistry colleagues, but that’s a learning point for next year, when we will look to secure a much larger space. Thanks needs to be given to all members of the physics team who gave their help on the day and to Gillian Turner for her organisational skills and preparation behind the scenes. It was a very positive experience, and coupled with the impressive science on display last week at the science fair, shows that there is a talented pool of young physicists that we need to do our best to attract to SCPS.