The Wonder Project is rocket science

on the project that Dio currently does, we have created a new project called Planting for People. This project involves planting trees in schools where they perhaps do not have the resources to plant their own trees, and by doing this, offset the carbon emissions created by the trip. Trees have been proved to reduce stress levels and make the environment in which one studies more enjoyable, and so this project helps not only the environment, but also the people who work in it.

On the day, it was an amazing experience to meet other youth leaders and hear about their projects. To speak with other like-minded student leaders gave us insight into how they lead their peers, and the range of projects that is carried out showed us the many creative ways global issues are being tackled.

We also did a workshop with Dr Goodall where we learnt about the various compassionate leader traits the youth leaders displayed in carrying out their projects. Some of the traits that particularly resonated with us were those of thinking critically, empathy and acting with a purpose. Thinking critically means seeing a situation from many perspectives and considering these when making decisions or carrying out projects to ensure the work is beneficial to all. Empathy means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes in order to see things from their perspective and how best to help them. Acting with a purpose means that when you carry out a project, you are doing so to have a positive impact, and everything you do will be done to ensure this is achieved. We think that if you combine all these traits when carrying out any project, you will be able to get support from your peers as well as make positive, meaningful impacts – as we saw Dr Jane Goodall has done in over 100 countries.

Overall this was an inspiring experience and we were lucky to be able to learn from such an influential leader who, at the age of 85, still travels 300 days a year to inspire people all around the world and share her passion.

Chloé Hickin and Tanushree Sharma (Year 12)

The Wonder Project

In partnership with Engineering New Zealand, the Wonder Project works within the New Zealand school curriculum to stimulate interest in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) and possibly, a future STEM career.

Over the past few weeks, Year 8 science students have been participating in the Wonder Project. Wonder Project engineers from different engineering companies in New Zealand came into the classroom, acting as mentors, guiding students through the project experience.

Olive Reynolds (8MI), Kate Green (8RO) and Sophie Cleland (8SE) report on the experience: “We started by learning about what it takes to be an engineer and how to brainstorm big ideas. Next we learnt about Newton's laws so we could understand what makes a rocket fly, thereby improving our rocket design to make it go further.

“Once we had designed and decorated our rockets, we moved on to testing them. We tested different amounts of PSI (pressure) and water to see which combination made our rocket fly the highest. After that we needed to improve our rocket design. We learnt that to get the best version of our

Olive Reynolds, Sophie Cleland and Kate Green

rocket, we had to go through lots of trial and error. We had to change our final design and add a nose cone so our rocket became more aerodynamic. More testing was done and finally our rocket was ready for take-off.

“We all enjoyed the process of creating our wonder rockets. It was such a good feeling to see our hard work pay off and our rockets fly. The project definitely has encouraged us to think like an engineer and to dream big.