Hello.
As you all know, Catherine (Katie) Taylor, Emma Carnuccio, Natalie Teh, Hayley Ng, Jingtong (Averlie) Wang, Isabelle (Izzy) Hooton and Madeleine (Maddy) Maloof recently attended the 10th International Student Science Conference at Nankai High School in Tianjin, China, and also Nankai's 110th anniversary celebrations.
First, we traveled to Beijing, where we visited Tiananmen Square and walked through the Forbidden City. Afterwards, we experienced a rickshaw ride in a preserved cultural area in Beijing and looked inside a traditional Chinese home. Then made our way to catch the bullet train to Tianjin.
We had a wonderful stay at Nankai; sleeping the dormitories, eating in the cafeteria, going shopping, getting to know the other students attending the conference and visiting some amazing places including the Tianjin Boeing Composites, the Tianjin Natural History Museum, the Ancient Cultural Street, the Haihe River, the National Wetlands Park and of course, the school itself. But most importantly, we were delegates at the science conference.
On the second day of this event, Emma Carnuccio presented her SRP on the effects of Xenical on the inhibition of lipase, Natalie Teh and Hayley Ng presented Nicole Sung's SRP on grey water, and Katie Taylor and Averlie Wang presented the SMART Tree Project. The conference was outstanding. It was an immensely beneficial experience academically, intellectually, socially and in terms of developing life skills such as public speaking. The standard of the other students' science projects was of a very high standard and we were inspired to push the limits of our own science at PLC Sydney. Some of our favourite presentations include the solar cell batteries from Taiwan and Mexico, the project on BCI (brain computer interfacing) from India, the ecologically sustainable brick from Mexico, stem cell research from Hong Kong, research on the harmful effects of wifi radiation, from Hong Kong, 'The fall of a bullet' from another Australian school Tasmania, 'Tides of the D'entrecasteaux Channel' also from Tasmania, 'The effects of halophilic bacteria on salt-stressed plants' from England, and research into PM 2.5 (particle matter) conducted by Nankai High School which looks at air pollution. All presentations were very impressive.
At the celebration of Nankai's 110th birthday, Cailin Pascoe, our Scottish highland dancer performed a beautiful dance, and our bagpipers Izzy Hooton, Maddy Maloof and Emma Carnuccio performed some lovely Australian and Scottish tunes led by Mr Wishart. We all gave them a standing ovation and we are very proud of them. The Nankai students also performed, showcasing their traditional Chinese dances, instruments, singing and the culture and values of their school. They performed very well and we were all highly entertained (after the one hour and fifteen minutes of speeches in Chinese had finished).
On our way back, we stopped over at Beijing again and climbed the Great Wall of China! The scenery was spectacular and it was an excellent opportunity to move our legs again after sitting through so many speeches and presentations. At Beijing, we also had another opportunity to do a little bit of shopping and eat dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant. Sadly, our stay couldn't be longer.
Going to China was a fantastic and rewarding experience that none of us will ever forget. We thank our principal Dr Burgis, Mrs Hendriks and Mr Wishart for leading and accompanying us, and the PLC Sydney Foundation for supporting us. Now, we all have amazing friends from overseas and fabulous memories of our time together.
Thank you,
The 2014 PLC team.
