My experience at the Otago University Advanced School Sciences Academy or OUASSA for short.

Basically, OUASSA is a program in which you get to do fun science projects and attend lectures at Otago University. This is a really great opportunity for Year 12s going into Year 13 next year and are passionate about science.

OUASSA is divided into two camps; a summer camp in January and a Winter camp in July. Each camp is a week long and you get to choose the projects that you are interested in. 

The projects that I chose for the summer camp were Chemistry, Physics, and Quantum Physics; for the winter camp I chose Chemistry, Geophysics and Toxicology. There are other projects as well like Sports Science, Marine Science, Computer Science, Forensics and Psychology.

You also get to stay at residential colleges near campus for each camp. For summer camp, we were lucky enough to stay at one of the newest residential colleges, called Te Rangihiroa which was really amazing and very modern, and for winter camp, we stayed at Tolcarne which is up on a hill and the view was just amazing. 

The projects were so much fun and they were very hands-on so you really learn a lot from it. The lectures were really interesting as well as there were topics that I didn’t know existed and it really opened my mind to new stuff. There are social activities during camp as well, like a small party at the end of each camp, and you get to meet like-minded people from all over the country, meet amazing lecturers, and explore Dunedin and the campus – basically having a taste of what studying at Otago is like. 

Applications for this programme open in August, so keep that in mind and if you want to know more, you can ask or email Ms. Collett or me about it.

So if you are passionate about Science and are thinking of going to Otago in a few years, I definitely recommend having a go at it, it's so worth it really and you can also add it to your applications for Uni and scholarships, it's a great opportunity.

Jay Narcoda