On the 8th to the 13th of December 2010, St Paul’s student James Kennedy attended the 2010 Science Summer School held at Waikato University. It was a fun filled five days focusing on the extraction of gold and the mining that occurs in Waihi at the Martha mine.
The first few days comprised of a field trip to Waihi to study existing and historical mine sites and to collect soil samples for further analysis back at the University. Upon returning to the Waikato University campus, after the field trip, various activities were planned, including viewing the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and analysis of soil samples, as well as small projects within the biochemical and electronic engineering departments of the University. Overall it was an excellent week even if James's sample only contained 3.24x10-5% gold.
James would strongly recommend any Year 12 students that are interested in the Sciences to apply for this camp when it occurs at the end of each year.
