Three generous year 11 students from Dubbo's St John's College have donated their winnings from the Young Scientist Awards to the selected Year 12 college charity, Clare's Angels.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The students received a $300 cash-prize along with a sponsored n the Rowe Scientific Depth Study Awards category.
James Joseph, Ali Ridha, Haider Ali and their science teacher Jose Sunny recently travelled to Wollongong to be presented with a silver medal at the prestigious STANSW Young Scientist Awards.
The students collectively decided to donate their winnings to a local charity, Claire's Angels.
Clare's Angels raise funds and create awareness for Rett Syndrome, which is a genetic brain disorder.
"We wanted to contribute the award money to be used for a noble cause," Mr Joseph said.
The success of the students has made the school proud according to their teachers, in particular, the boys' science teacher, Mr Sunny, who said this was the first time St John's College has been involved in such a prestigious competition.
"We are really proud of the boys," Mr Sunny said.
"I had great faith in our research and the boys, and we did it. It is certainly a remarkable achievement for the students and our college.
"For them to win this prestigious award at the competition is an incredible achievement for St John's college and our science faculty.
"This recognition will undoubtedly instigate more students to aspire to invest their creative, critical thinking and questioning skills in science and also to associate with competitions of this stature in the future.
"I would also like to especially thank Trish Chapman (lab assistant) for her assistance provided to students in this project and also to Glen Turner (science coordinator) and Kerry Morris (principal) for their unconditional support," Mr Sunny added.
Mr Joseph said it was also thanks to Mr Sunny that they were successful in receiving an award.
"A special thanks has to go towards Mr Sunny for essentially giving us the idea of our project and its phases, and also Mrs Chapman for pushing us and polishing our report," Mr Joseph said.
"These two individuals deserve so much acknowledgement for their ongoing perseverance and work ethic."
READ MORE: Cheap loans, road funds ease drought pain
This award is for Year 11 or 12 investigations that most effectively communicate in-depth knowledge of one or more concepts from the syllabus.
The students did their research on the efficiency of immobilised yeast enzymes in breaking down sucrose solutions into glucose.
They discovered that the immobilised yeast enzymes increased in efficiency over time and thus would be more efficient long term than mobile enzymes.
More than 920 projects were submitted by year 11 and 12 students across NSW this year. The students volunteered their own time to researching and conducting their presentations.
