Year 11 students Faith Middlemiss, Grayson Scott and Rose Tepper attended the five-day science extension and enrichment program operated by the Marine Science Department at Otago University in Term 1.

The five-day programme was aimed at Year 11 students who have a keen interest and curiosity in the world around them. Over the course of the programme, students worked on a research vessel, the Polaris II,and led their own marine science team project. They were mentored by postgraduate students and stayed overnight at Quarantine Island.

In the first block of the trip we met our mentors and peers and learnt what projects we could do afterwards we were put into groups and started on our project. We went back to Quarantine Island where we stayed during the night for the next three days.

The second day of our trip consisted of different testing and data gathering on the boat, Polaris II. to gather this data we used equipment provided by the Otago University. The first block of this trip was based around data gathering. This trip was not all science though. We had challenges at night and got to know each other during dinner. We made friends in our cabins and went for a swim in the ocean. In the second block of the trip we gathered and analysed all of our data and created posters to present to our family and friends.

We each had our own marine science team project. Faith was in the Sharky BRUVers, we sent BRUV (Baited Remote Underwater Video) cameras underwater at various points around the Otago Harbour and some outside of the harbour. This was to find the relationship between anthropogenic (human) impacts on land and the health of ocean sediment and therefore the biodiversity in the area.

Grayson was in the Imps of the Ocean, we were measuring and comparing different levels of different aspects of the ocean. This included salinity, pH levels, temperature, and chlorophyll levels.

Rose was in the Bubble Guppies group, we researched the relationship between Zooplankton and the amount of sea birds in a certain area.

By Faith Middlemiss, Grayson Scott and Rose Tepper