‘At SciFest, we felt like scientists’ By Janet Williams Oshun, TY, St Mary’s College, Arklow, May 2018
Having participated in SciFest@College 2018 in Waterford
Certificate subjects. If the opportunity arose I would
Institute of Technology our experience of it was very good
definitely participate in SciFest again.
and extremely positive. The venue was excellent and very
That being said, all of us had our own crazy journeys to
well run. The judges were very enthusiastic, understanding
produce our completed projects. We can now collectively
and patient, but also showed genuine interest in our
agree that science works in a weird and magical way and
projects. They also provided us with guidance and ways in
we saw this when, at first many of our results didn’t work
which we could improve our project in its later stages. We
and we wanted to give up. However, we still got back up
really enjoyed the whole process of collecting data,
and kept going by figuring out a new way to get what we
carrying out experiments and then creating posters and
wanted and fix our mistakes. While some of us won an
booklets from all of the data obtained.
award at the WIT SciFest, without a doubt we all reaped
We really weren’t expecting there to be as many projects on display, but we instantly made friends with the people near our stand. From this experience some of us had learned more about ourselves than imaginable.
the reward of dedication and persistence. In all, we loved it and although it brought us on an emotional roller coaster, we would certainly do it again any day. To conclude, we would like to commend the staff, professors, students, judges and organisers for putting
During this experience I have learned a lot, not only about
together such a wonderful event. This experience can be
science but about myself and my fellow classmates. I found
described as unforgettable and one that will certainly
being around people my age who also have an interest in
benefit us in the future. We appreciate events like this
science, truly made me proud to have chosen Science as
because it gives students like us a chance to gain a wide
one my TY modules. I wish I could’ve participated in this at
range of new skills that can be applied later in our lives. We
a younger age.
are very grateful to have been given such an amazing
My experience at SciFest was productively chaotic. One
opportunity and participating in SciFest@WIT was well
minute I was frustrated, the next I was over the moon. I
worth it.
walked into this classroom knowing absolutely nothing about science, especially since I didn’t do it for my Junior Certificate. I joined my friend’s project about something I had never heard about before and was starting to worry
Note: Janet Williams Oshun and her partner Aleksandra Gramiak were awarded the Abbott Runner-up Best Project Award for their project, ‘Testing the effectiveness of market batteries against our Ecological Houseplant Battery’ at SciFest@WIT 2018
about what we would be doing for the year. Surprisingly, though through many breakdowns and mistakes our project went well. I was nervous to present it at SciFest@WIT because the only practice I had at presenting was with my class, filled with people I knew at our SciFest@School last March. Thankfully the judges were very friendly and easy to talk to. I’m very proud of myself and what I can accomplish and because of this I now have the confidence to choose biology as one of my Leaving
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www.scifest.ie
