16 EDUCATION
thursday 24 june 2021
burdekinlocal.com.au
Students given ‘golden’ opportunity
Daniel Shirkie A COMBINED cohort of year nine students from Ayr and Home Hill State High Schools have ‘gone for gold’ at a Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy workshop. Held on June 16, the ‘Breakers.Bots.Build’ workshop invited over 30 students from the two schools to test themselves designing
mechanics and using robotics to learn about mining practices with the QMEA, an education focused subsidiary of the Queensland Resources Council. QRC’s Director of Skills, Education and Diversity Katrina-Lee Jones said students were given a chance to test their problem solving skills as well as find out about intriguing technology. “Students learned the importance of teamwork, communication and problem solving as well as discovered the technological uses of gold in electronics and medicine,” Ms Jones said. First hand advice from Mount Carlton mining representatives about the careers and job paths available in the resources sector was also supplied to the students during the workshop, with Ayr State High School Principal Craig
Whittred welcoming the focus on science and technology. “It’s important for students in our regional areas to experience how exciting STEM can be and I know our students enjoy engaging with local industry representatives who share their experiences and mentor the students,” Mr Whittred said. A second group of twenty students from the same schools were also given a chance to sharpen up their abilities on the job with a workshop aimed at year 11 and 12 students that ran concurrently across June 15 - 17. With help from industry members from Evolution mining, the students worked together to put theory into practice and develop and build miniature vehicles with functioning headlights, stop lights, indicators and emergency lights.
Home Hill State Primary School celebrates NAIDOC week
Marina Trajkovich STUDENTS from Home Hill State Primary school fell to hushed silence this week as Jim Gaston, Birri Gubba Juru elder, opened NAIDOC week festivities with a traditional smoking ceremony. The ceremony and Welcome to Country were followed by a performance by the Juru dancers and activities focused on celebrating and showcasing aspects of local indigenous culture. Local leaders from the region’s varied Indigenous, and Torres Strait Islander communities led workshops, as groups of students learnt about things from traditional weaving to creating pendants and jewellery making, boomerang throwing and participated in dancing workshops. There was traditional storytelling and the opportunity to engage with local Indigenous history as part of NAIDOC celebrations, led annually by the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Birri Gubba Juru elder James Gaston, who also works with Home Hill State Primary
School as part of their ‘adopt a ranger’ program through the Gudjuda Reference Group, says he’s always looking to share indigenous customs and culture. The smoking ceremony he performed was passed down to him by his own elders in Bowen, used to cleanse an area of bad spirits by burning native plants. “Every day is NAIDOC to me, and every day is reconciliation to me. A lot of what we do is education in schools like with the smoking ceremony,” says James. Lynette Zaro, a Burdekin local, shared her Murray Island and Torres Strait Islander heritage with the students. “The activity I’m doing is colouring in the Torres Strait flag, and I can explain what the colours of the flag stand for. “I’m telling them about the different animals and our totems. We have eight tribes back in the island, and everybody has a different totem.” “It’s about sharing with the students where we come from.”
