Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales Inc.
Providing leadership and promoting excellence in science education
Last year was the Young Scientist team’s previous best performance with four 4th place Grand Award
prizes and one Special Award. This year, the all-girls team raised the bar even higher receiving one
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Special Award, one 4 place Grand Award, two 3 place Grand Awards and one 1 place Grand Award.
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The 1 place Grand Award went to Macinley Butson from The Illawarra Grammar School for her radiation
shielding device for breast screening patients. This was the first time an Australian student has ever won
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a 1 place Grand Award and she won her award in the category of Translational Medical Science.
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Macinley also received the honour of having an asteroid named after her, a privilege only given to 1 and
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2 placegetters at ISEF, winners of the US Science Talent Search Competition or world-renowned
celebrities who have been recognised for their life-long achievements in their particular field.
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The 3 place Grand Award winners were Rebekah Kang from PLC Sydney and Mary-Anne Poyitt from
Redeemer Baptist School. Rebekah Kang used a combination of magnetite and feathers to attract and
absorb the oil in environmental oil spills and Mary-Anne conducted an extensive native plant and
topographical survey to determine the best way of regenerating vegetation in riparian corridors. Jade
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Moxey from Sapphire Coast Anglican School won the 4 place Grand Award for studying the effects of
sheep grazing on fireweed control management.
Both Maddison King and Jade Moxey had special interviews with reporters from Science News.
Maddison King’s HSC Design and Technology project ‘Clever Girl’ received extra public interest in Los
Angeles with CNN featuring her innovative “rip-warning device”. Eleanor Lawton-Wade from PLC Sydney
won a USD $1000 Special Award for her project exploring the chemical and biological changes that could
occur to freshwater ecosystems if temperatures rise due to global warming.
Other Memorable Experiences
The STANSW Young Scientist ISEF team also found time to visit educational institutions and a number of
LA’s iconic locations. The girls visited the La Brea Tar Pits, the California Science Centre, Griffith
Observatory, the Hollywood Sign, the Walk of Stars along Hollywood Boulevard, LA Live, Santa Monica
Beach and they finished the week by going to a baseball game at Dodgers Stadium.
Other highlights included a six-hour visit to Universal Studios where the park was open exclusively for
ISEF delegates and a full 15-hour day at Disneyland where they had the opportunity of visiting both the
Disneyland Park and the Disneyland California Adventure Park. A particular highlight at Disneyland was
that the girls were selected to have the exclusive VIP seats for Mickey’s Soundsational Parade. Wherever
the girls went in their Sebel shirts they attracted a lot of attention and the 1200 clip-on koalas were a
particular favourite for local and international ISEF delegates.
STANSW Awards
The following STANSW Members were recognised at the 2017 PTC Annual Awards.
Exceptional commitment to the Association: Margaret Shepherd
Outstanding commitment to the Association to Ann Hanna.
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