This year, we had three boys attend Hands On Otago courses at the University, Asif Azam (Computing), Liam Hewson (Zoology) and Andy Watt (Classics). Liam wrote about his experience below.

I was one of the 414 people lucky enough to get into Hands on Science at Otago: a week staying in a residential college while experiencing uni life. Each morning we went to our chosen projects and then the afternoons had a ‘snack’, where we saw other subjects the university offers.

For my week, I was in the Zoology project with some incredibly talented young minds and absolutely amazing instructors. We dissected a wallaby, visited Orokonui Ecosanctuary to learn about South Island Robins, identified bones from a North Island dig site, measured Hochstetter's frogs (which we may have found a new subspecies of) and did a skulls investigation.

During the evenings each floor prepared a lip sync for the dance night, which were performed on our last night to the amusement of everyone.

My week at Hands on Otago was an awesome experience, and an amazing opportunity that I would encourage anyone interested to consider applying for later in the year.

Click here to see Liam's group's presentation.

http://www.otago.ac.nz/hands-on-at-otago/activities/projects/zoology.html

Liam Hewson