OBHS Science Fair entries take out Premier Awards

By Pru Casey | Posted: Sunday August 9, 2020

Congratulations Otago Boys’ High School Science students! With over 20 students submitting high quality projects – it was no surprise the school dominated the Senior Prize Giving!

Premier Awards were taken out by:

Aaron Nelson and George Hamilton for their project titled Earthquakes and Tides.

These students gained the NZ Oil & Gas Award for Most Promising Young Scientist – Senior Award.

and

Max Cunninghame and Vinnie Gable for their project on the effects of weather on chick feeding in Fairy Prions.

These students gained the NIWA Award for Best Project Relating to Water or Atmosphere.

Such was the calibre of the Otago Boys' High entries, that all students gained prizes and we are very proud of them all. The collective hours of work dedicated to success in the Science Fair from our lads would reach well over one thousand hours!

The theme of Kaitiakitanga was the kaupapa of the Fair projects for the Senior OBHS students – with Theo Nicholson using “chew cards” to monitor and record rodent infestation at 10 Otago Peninsula sites during the mid-year school holidays. Ben Tucker, Aaryan Alexander and Jared Lau carried out an extensive survey of chitons on the Otago Harbour. Hugh Davidson’s focus was the sea floor and its effect on waves. Ronan Melville and Daniel Hayman monitored air quality in Dunedin and compared this with Central Otago recordings. Thomas Spek and Abdul Obaidullah investigated the photosynthetic capabilities of Coprosma repens in an attempt to understand the “weed” status of this native plant. Nathaniel Williams monitored micro and macro plastics in the Otago Harbour and Thomas Grayson focused on the effect of ocean acidity on Tuaki development.

Our Junior Science students were also represented with a microbial study by Tom Thurlow and Ryan Hay and a GPS tracking system for team sport used by Finn Hibbert to analyse the actions of soccer team members. Eddie Wright of Year 11 had a stunning project, worked on over lockdown – his model rocket was a crowd pleaser!

Collectively our OBHS students won 44 prizes including the Premier Awards – Science at Otago Boys’ is a top scorer!

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