From Marian Catholic College, one of those students was Amanda Harrison who just recently found out that her submission for Professor Barry Marshall's 2021 challenge has won the prize from Professor Marshall himself.

The challenge this year was to 'design aspects of a medical facility that could be operated remotely and without a permanent doctor.' Miss Harrison partnered with Anousheh Moonen to create the 'Robobacter solution' and they've been rewarded for their efforts.

The competition was open to all attendees, approximately 600 students in total. While Miss Harrison was thrilled to have won the award from Professor Marshall, she considers it a sidenote to the other benefits the forum offered.

"The opportunity is so huge ... the best part was definitely the friendships and contacts I made there. I'm still in contact with people I met there, they're just so lovely and we all have common interests," Miss Harrison said.

READ MORE:

Miss Harrison was sponsored by the Rotary Avanti club to attend the conference; the club regularly sponsors young people from the area to attend. Dianne Robinson, the youth director of the club spoke highly of the program.

"It's such a worthwhile program for students who are interested in science, so we're proud to help send them," Ms Robinson said.

Lisa Davis is a science teacher at Marian Catholic College, and said that Miss Harrison had been committed to the sciences since a very young age.

"There's a number of students that are really passionate that I recommend for the conference, Amanda reached out to me. I've known Amanda since kindergarten and she's always wanted to do science."

Miss Harrison was thrilled with the forum and is already looking ahead to where the experience could lead her.

"During the program, ADFA did a lecture which was really inspiring so I'm looking at going to university through them and becoming a submariner doing electronics engineering."

Miss Harrison strongly encouraged anyone interested to apply for upcoming forums and to learn as much as possible from them.

"If you have the motivation, it's so worth it."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: