21 March 2018

By Ree Maloney

Two Geelong schools have received grants of $50,000 to further encourage students to engage with maths and science. Sacred Heart College, Geelong, was the only secondary school in Victoria to be awarded a Digital Literacy in Schools Grant of almost $50,000. Mandama Primary School, Grovedale, received a similar amount. Sacred Heart will spend the grant on encouraging and developing students’ interest in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, otherwise known as STEM — areas where women are under-represented.

The college’s director of development, Catherine Middlemiss, said students were asked what would make them more interested in STEM and came up with the idea of wearable technology. These include technology-based clothing and jewellery. '(The students) have worked with the Garvan Institute, the Bureau of Statistics and Deakin University — they’re getting fantastic opportunities to work on projects,' Ms Middlemiss said.

Teacher Helen Lazzaro said one of the projects the girls created was 'drum jeans' which have sensors and circuit boards sewn into them. 'They can code it and create it themselves in music class,' she said. Sacred Heart partnered with Deakin University’s School of Engineering to find a program to engage the girls. Corio MP Richard Marles said it was integral to foster a love of science in Geelong school students.

'It’s really important for the future of Geelong that we’ve got more of our kids studying STEM and choosing to study STEM,' Mr Marles said. Deakin's School of Engineering outreach officer Jessica Sautner said girls needed less gender stereotypes and more role models in their lives. The grant was awarded by the Federal Government’s Department of Education and Training department. More than 1700 schools applied for the grants and only 60 were awarded.

This article was originally published in the Geelong Advertiser on 16 March 2018.