Students from ME Program partner schools were last night awarded for their innovative approaches to STEM at the presentation night for the inaugural 2015 NSW Year 7—10 Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and iSTEM High Schools Competition

At the ceremony, held at Fort Scratchley, 54 students, six teachers and 12 schools were awarded in areas including excellence in innovation, electronics, engineering and aeronautics.

“RDA Hunter was honoured to work with the University of Wollongong to stage such a prestigious competition here in the Hunter,” said RDA Hunter ME Program Director, Dr Scott Sleap.

“Our students are excelling in all facets of STEM and it was satisfying to be able to reward them for their efforts.

“Dr Bob Wheway of UOW is a pioneer of STEM education in Australia and was very impressed with the calibre of our students. It was a privilege to have worked with him on this inaugural event and we look forward to continuing our association in the coming years.” continued Dr Sleap.

RDA Hunter’s ME Program is an innovative industry led, STEM focused, skills and workforce development program. It links industry with schools to make senior school STEM curriculum interesting and workplace-relevant and provides industry with qualified, motivated and career aware candidates.

Part of the ME Program is iSTEM – a state-of-the-art senior school subject that embeds mechatronics, aerodynamics, engineering, 3D CAD/CAM and motion modules to contextualise learning for students and teachers. It presents maths and sciences to students in a hands-on and interesting way and is key to the Program’s outstanding results.

iSTEM was created in the Hunter Region in direct response to industry’s urgent demand for young people qualified in STEM and has been so successful that it will be rolled out to senior school students in more than 60 NSW schools in 2016.