TŪHURA KO W H I T I K A U P E K A T E W H E T Ū
E X P L O R E
POWERING POTENTIAL: 8 QUESTIONS: 8 TEAMS: 8 MENTORS “I’ve been inspired to go to university this year! I’ve been wrestling with it for a while but being able to work with like-minded people and hear their stories has really empowered me to want to go on and study science”. 2019 POWERING POTENTIAL PARTICIPANT
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The fifth Powering Potential event took place in Hakihea December with forty students from across New Zealand travelling to Wellington to work in teams to tackle some ‘big problems’ posed by scientists and technologists, who mentored the students. The students had 48 hours to research an issue before presenting potential solutions to a public audience. This programme, supported by Freemasons New Zealand, seeks to give students valuable skills and experiences, and demonstrate to them the benefits of following a career in science and technology. Team ‘Sleeping Beauties’ looked at why sleep is so important and how to improve sleep for adolescents. ‘Play it by Air’ tackled the issue of air pollution in cities. ‘Dark Vaders’ brainstormed how to lift awareness of the dangers of light pollution for moths. ‘Botany Buds’ considered what plants would both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve New Zealand’s natural ecology. ‘De Fault’ looked at the issue of housing in areas at high risk from natural disasters. ‘The Which Doctors’ looked at how we can use genome sequencing for personalised medicine. ‘Bad Beaches’ addressed the challenges of monitoring marine reserves and ‘Fellow Humans’ looked at how to make robots more human, especially through manipulating their ‘voice’.
