From the 14th to the 28th of January, I flew up to Auckland to attend the 27th National Rotary Science Forum, along with 167 other students from all over the country. 

We stayed in University hall, the largest halls of residence for the University of Auckland. The Forum is all about science and technology, and all of the attendees are high achieving students in the sciences. 

Firstly, we had a couple of days to get orientated with Auckland, and then on the Monday we started our activities. The keynote address was from Dr Michelle Dickinson (aka Nanogirl), who inspired many of us to think about what we want to do in life.

Our first module was GeoScience, run by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology at Long Bay, North of Auckland. We looked at the rocks formed by massive underwater landslides, and also at the surrounding area. 

My favourite module was actually the second one we did, psychology. This was run by the Auckland University of Technology, and this was all about human psychology to illusions and mental conditions. This was incredibly interesting, and our whole group enjoyed it. 

The last module was Food and Nutrition, where we learned how to work out the vitamin c content of fruit juices, as well as measuring body functions like heart rate and blood pressure.

Despite many people calling the Forum a ‘nerd camp’, all of us took part in Volleyball throughout the forum. Volleyball is an important part of the Forum, and for every game, we dressed up in our team colours. We all thoroughly enjoyed the volleyball competition, but unfortunately the best team overall could not beat the advisors.

It was not all science and volleyball however. On the middle Saturday, we got told to leave the hall and explore Auckland for the day. We went all over the central city, from playing chess at the waterfront to a superhero escape room on Queen Street. 

On Sunday, we went to Wenderholm beach, also North of Auckland. We spent the whole day there, spending the day at the beach as a group of friends

On the final night, we went to the Crown Plaza hotel, for the formal dinner. This was a wonderful evening, and we all dressed up, similar to a formal. The dinner was excellent, and at every table we had special guests involved with the forum. After the dinner, we cleared our rooms, and waited for the shuttles for the flight back.

The forum was an amazing experience, and I would like to thank the local Rotary Club for sponsoring me, and for my teachers for supporting me. I can’t recommend it enough and if you ever get the chance, grab it with both hands.