For five days in the July school holidays, I had the privilege of attending the Deep Thought 2019 programme run by the Portobello Marine Studies Centre.

During the time I was there, around 30 Year 11 and 12 students conducted scientific investigations looking at marine life and the impacts on it in and around the Otago Harbour.

On the first day, the students were introduced to the subject of each investigation in a rotation of practical sessions with each of the mentors. We got a handle on the science ideas surrounding each investigation, and learned how to handle the necessary equipment. We then gathered in our groups, and began planning our investigation.

After finalising our plans and looking at the tides and weather forecast, we collected our gear, and were driven in the boat over to Quarantine Island where we were staying.

We spent the next two days out on the harbour, measuring the water parameters and recording our data. We used a CTD and secchi disk to do this, and went back to the lab to graph our findings before heading over to the island to play cards, explore, and participate in various fun activities that had been planned out for us. These included reenacting marine based movies in under two minutes (my team won with our rendition of Titanic), creating a scale model of an eco friendly, energy efficient, sustainable farm, and creating our own marine superhero.

Before we knew it, it was the last day, and we had teams frantically finishing off last minute graphs and slideshows, ready to present to our friends and family in the afternoon. Each team presented their work from the week in a slideshow, scientific poster, and novelty presentation in the form of a song.

I would highly recommend applying for this course, as I learned so much, made some awesome new friends, and got the opportunity to do some amazing work with the staff and students at the University of Otago. This has been an amazing experience for me, worth the sea sickness and the cold, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing.

A special thank you to Steve Cutler, The University of Otago, and the Marine Studies Centre for providing this opportunity.