Victoria Electricity sponsors Student Challenge team
During the last school holidays, 10 students from Victoria and Queensland were given the opportunity of a lifetime to join Earthwatch’s Climate Change in the Rainforest project. Here they learnt first hand about the effects of climate change on Australia’s tropical rainforests.
The group of students were sponsored by Victoria Electricity, an electricity and gas retailer that provides green energy services to help customers reduce their energy consumption and one of Earthwatch’s newest partners.
The team joined Dr Steve Williams and his research team at the field station in Paluma just outside of Townsville. This was the first Student Challenge team to have joined Dr Williams’ project and the students were privileged to work with such a renowned climate scientist.
The students had a great time in the rainforest learning all about fieldwork and how to collect environmental data. They learnt how to survey bird, lizard and frog populations, empty litter traps and go spotlighting and made life-long friends along the way.
"My most positive experiences were learning about the differentthings that happen in the rainforest and meeting new people that I will keep in contact with. It was a very good experience and I will recommend it to a lot of people."
Callum, Innisfail State High School
The Student Challenge was also a great opportunity for the students to experience life as a research scientist first-hand and discuss their futures with young scientists. This gave them an insight into a potential future career as well as the confidence to make some decisions about their future study choices.
"I loved all the prac work we did. Working with the PhD students was very enjoyable for me. This is because it gave me many opportunities to ask questions about their study."
Ellen, Northcote High School
The Student Challenge is open to high school students aged 16-18 years. Summer holiday teams are now recruiting and go into the field in December and January.
Visit Student Challenge for more information.