Six Avonside students have participated in a 6 week program called He Puna Pūtaiao. Each week they have spent one day at the University of Canterbury studying the Ecology of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). The students have had to develop a hypothesis, review literature, use microscopes to identify invertebrates, collect and analyse data from Te Waihora then collate all their information on a University level research poster and present to the He Puna Pūtaiao cohort and their Whānau. It has been an incredible experience for the girls and they have thoroughly enjoyed the program and developing their research and communication skills.