Having the opportunity to test the waters of university study can often be the match that sparks passion.
This is the hope that drives the Oorala Aboriginal Centre’s University of New England Experience Days – a program that is giving Year 10–12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students a chance to see what university life has to offer.
The Experience Days provide an opportunity for students to be exposed to life on campus, focusing on academic preparation, careers and hands-on experiences in a variety of discipline areas including Science, Business, Law, Sports Science, Education, Health and Rural Science.
We have waited all year for this and finally, on 11 November, the first group of 2020 high school students made their way to the Armidale UNE campus for the first of four planned Experience Days. This group of eight students took part in experiments in the fields of Chemistry and Biomedical Science, which gave them a taste of what studying Science in a campus environment can look and feel like.
While among the labs, these students learnt about moles and aspirin in Chemistry with Dr Erica Smith, and later that day extracted DNA from strawberries in the Bio-Medicine labs with Dr Mary McMillan.
The first Experience Day was a resounding success with both the students and UNE staff thrilled to take part in these workshop sessions.
When asked what the highlight of the day was, Dr Erica Smith said that it was the students themselves. ‘They were wonderful to work with in the chemistry lab. They were curious, enthusiastic and open-minded about trying something new, i.e. making aspirin!
‘It reminds us of why we do what we do. I am an educator and a scientist, and I want my work to help make a difference. Engaging with our youth helps keeps us focused on contemporary issues and what is important for future generations. Also, for our future UNE community, providing an opportunity for local kids to think about UNE means they might join us as a student or staff member one day! If UNE wants to effect positive change in our community, we need to have people from this community studying and working at UNE.’
Following the success of the first Experience Day, three more sessions were held as we now had the formula right. Each Experience Day was made up of small groups to maintain social distancing guidelines and COVID safety measures.
A week later, Experience Day Session 2 saw another group of students explore what meat science is all about, whilst watching a butcher turn a carcass into food and discussing what muscles are the most tender and which ones are the toughest. The students then got to make and cook their own burgers for lunch. And what amazing burgers they were! Moving on to the poultry hub in the afternoon the group was given a quick overview of the poultry industry, explored what to look for in egg quality and what constitutes a chicken diet. They then took this information into the practical activity of mixing and grinding the ingredients to make chicken pellets.
In Session 3, another week later, and led by microbiologists Dr Gal Winter and Dr Richard Charlesworth, students discussed the digestive process and the important role microbes play in it. They were asked to examine the consequences of different food choices on digestion and microbial diversity and explored all things gut related. This day was teamed with Sports Science, with an overview of how to measure human performance, and how data can be collected and used to inform us about sporting performance. At this point the students sprinted, did vertical jumps, tested their power and grip strength and discovered how their own systems (bodies) were doing.
In the final session for 2020 students explored Archaeology and History. As the group explored a bush Botany walk, visited the Aboriginal Stone Quarry on Clarks Farm across the road from the UNE campus, looked through UNE Archaeology Lab, and were introduced to the Indigenous Plant Garden, they discussed the scope that a career in archaeology covers. The second experience of the day was with Dr Lorina Barker, a senior lecturer at the UNE and a founding member of the Taragara Aboriginal Corporation. Lorina talked about history and exploring Songlines, the foundation of Aboriginal cultures, lores and histories. In smaller groups students choose a Songline and learnt about the epic journey and different episodes of that story and then drew, carved and/or painted the story on a message stick or memory board to gain that deeper connection to the story.
Each UNE Experience Day gives a focus on a course of university study to give the students a chance to experience many of the different courses that University of New England has to offer.
