Hello, I’m Maddi Parlato and between January 14th and 28th I spent what was probably the best two weeks of my life at the Rotary National Youth Science and Technology Forum in Auckland.

The forum consisted of 15 lectures and modules that included everything from building our own robots to making cottage cheese to growing our own bacterial cultures. These lectures highlighted the key parts of each field and often had a practical side to get us students involved. We were lucky enough to hear from  experts and lecturers from the University of Auckland, Massey University Albany campus, Auckland Institute of Technology and even one from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology!

The program also included what were known as “tech option visits”, where different groups traveled around Auckland city to different workplaces to learn what it was actually like to work as a Scientist or Engineer. I visited ESR forensics, the NZ Police and a company working on the bio activities in Manuka honey. 

Some of the lectures were for fields I have no intention of studying, like biomedical engineering.  I didn't even know what it was they did! But in every single one I learned something new and genuinely enjoyed what I was doing. Yes -  even Applied Mathematics! 

Of all the lectures I'd have to say the one I enjoyed the most was Molecular Biology, where we extracted DNA from fruit and then ourselves.  I learned about PCR (polymerase chain reactions) and looked at new ways to stop bacterial infections from becoming fatal as they become resistant to antibiotics.

Of course the whole thing wasn't just about 'geeking out' and learning cool stuff.  No one goes to classes on the weekend, not even the super-nerds. It was also about meeting like minded people who we could be spending our university years with. On the weekend we had a whole Saturday to explore Auckland with our new forum friends and there was even a disco to show off our not so great dancing skills. The next day was dedicated to taking the whole group of students to the beach  - however for a smaller group of us that became an attempt to nap under a tree.

On the first day of forum we met the other people who were going to be in our groups for the next two weeks. I was in the green team. As bias as I am, the green team was the best team!  We literally had people who came from Northland all the way down to Invercargill in our team.   None of us had ever met before but by the end of forum all of us had become friends. The green team had some pretty cool people - as you can see we all have the most amazing fashion sense and were filled to the brim with pro nerds and multi talented individuals.  I have to do a shout out to the green team because if they weren't such awesome people I'm not sure how I would have survived on my own for two weeks.

If you are even the slightest bit interested in science I would honestly encourage anyone to apply for next year's forum. It was the most motivational thing I've ever been involved with and I want as many people as possible to experience how amazing the forum is.