Below is a summary of Opal's report about her experience in NYSF. Please contact Nicholas Oei for the full version if interested.
"My NYSF Experience
By Opal Scheele, Year 12 student at St Catherine’s School
I was recently sponsored by the Rotary of Central Melbourne to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) in January 2026. I went to the Forum held in Brisbane, by University of Queensland (UQ) with 230 other participants to experience university life by living in the Kings College dorms.
I initially went into NYSF only with a passion for STEM, medicine, and the environment but I was then blown away by a multitude of different areas of science, technology and engineering that I would not have known otherwise. I visited the bioplastics manufacturing lab at UQ, went to the careers networking day, and donned a lab coat and safety glasses. I also became a huge fan of this amazing PhD candidate because of her genius, impressive research!
I also want to give my special thanks to the staff members – we call them ‘staffies’ – who made sure we had a smooth but fun experience. They were so energetic and I made so many friends and memories over those 8 days. I am truly grateful for Rotary of Central Melbourne for sponsoring my attendance of this wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience."