Jessica says "As a student at Rose Bay I was given an opportunity to take ‘Marine Studies’ as a course, it fuelled my passion for the ocean as well as STEM. I became infatuated with Marine biology and it became evident in my assignments during my senior years, and my extra-circular activities. For 3 years I’ve been taking care of the school’s science faculty marine lab almost every day at exactly 8:10am, taking care of the fish and cleaning up the tanks. The marine lab has been part of my routine, and one of my favourite places in the school."
"My subjects chosen for the HSC are STEM based, I currently take biology, investigating science, engineering, design and technology as well as English and maths. As part of investigating science I studied fish behaviour and wrote a scientific paper through combining all the skills from my subjects. Using CAD modelling I laser cut a T maze to study how ‘Group size influenced the efficiency of foraging and decision making within a complex novel environment’. The experiment was a great success with P<0.001 (a highly significant result!), I was also able to determine that there was an optimal group size where efficiency and advantages where maximal.
The opportunity to study the marine biology of Maria Island will allow me to further my practical skills in the field, which will be vital in researching the dynamics of social behaviours of marine species under consequential ecological pressures."
Congratulations Jess!
