STUDENTS from Good Shepherd College performed well at the Peter Doherty Science Awards in Ballarat recently, with one team taking out the top spot out of 30 entries.

The competition was open to Year 7 to Year 10 students in Western Victoria, which encourages scientific thought and activity, inspiring students to investigate everyday issues by undertaking experimental research using the scientific method.

From 30 projects entered from all over Western Victoria, two of the six finalists were GSC teams against schools in the Ballarat, Warrnambool, Horsham and Portland regions.

This included Year 9 students; Natarsha Roy, Eden Ackerman and Evie Pfieffer who conducted their experiment on whether having music on the background improved reading comprehension, and Year 10 students, and overall winners, Makayla McRostie, Archer Schultz and Nick Mewburn, who tested the ‘Five Second Rule’ on the amount of bacteria collected from food on the ground.

GSC has competed in the competition since 2022, where in their first year they won the Communication Award (3rd Place), followed by the Commendable Award (2nd Place) in 2023, followed by this year’s first place.

GSC science teacher, Jared Male said students were required to conduct an experiment and submit their findings in scientific poster format as a part of their entry.

“It impressed me how these students who won, how little help they needed with their experiments,” he said.

“They were really self-motivated and conducted most of their experiments at home in the school holidays, so it was very self-led.”

All six finalist teams were invited to an in-person presentation event in front of a panel of judges at the Ballarat Tech School.

“It was terribly exciting for them,” Mr Male said.

“Many students got there two hours early to start practicing.

“It’s in front of around 60 to100 people so it’s very big and formal, and there’s a live stream online so it’s almost like a Ted Talk where they are on the stage with a screen behind them, and they speak with a microphone.”

Mr Male said he was very proud of all of the students’ dedication and hard work to their projects.

“Maybe I was a bit biased, but I was very convinced we were the strongest presentations there,” he said.