Written by Zara Wicks – Year 10 Media Journalism

The STEM Expo held at Galen Catholic College on Wednesday 16th August gave a warm welcome to Secondary School students with interests in Science, Robotics and the Environment. Students who attended the stimulating STEM event were given the opportunity to learn about how technology is used now, and how it might be used in the future.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths), provides students with a diverse way to experience various types of topics through multiple hands-on activities. This year’s STEM Expo focus shined a light on Future Earth. It provided many explanations about how through the improvement of knowledge, we can create change in our environment.

A key organizer of the STEM Expo was Ms Maree Timms, a science and maths teacher at Galen Catholic College.

“I realised that there weren’t too many students taking STEM subjects in Year 11 & 12,” said Ms Timms. After coming to this conclusion she decided to make a change and involve Galen in a STEM Expo last year.

The 2016 STEM Expo, which focused on Drones, Droids and Robots received lots of positive feedback. It was then decided that another STEM Expo would be held again this year, although with the focus of Future Earth.

“There are so many different ways to get into STEM,” Ms Timms explained. “Students don’t have to go to university, they can just have an interest,” she continued.

When asked what the most influential aspect of the STEM Expo is, Ms Timms said that the network created throughout the community will help “provide much more opportunities for Galen students, but also other students in the region.”

The broad range of exhibitors that held displays at the exciting event, created a positive way for students to ask questions about STEM.

“It enables us to explore into our interests more, and open up our future opportunities,” Tristan Roleff, a Year 10 student at Galen said about STEM and Robotics.

“We get to work with technology, get to build things for ourselves, and compete with other people” Kyle Fry, another year 10 Galen student, mentioned when asked why he finds STEM interesting and engaging.

The STEM Expo provided students with the opportunity to further look into their interests and possible career options in the future. The event created a positive atmosphere around learning about the future of our planet and how we will play a part in it though STEM.