Selwyn invited Year 12 students to our first Sciences Summer School which took place between Monday 11th and Wednesday 13th August. Almost 40 students attended the residential course, and represented 26 state-maintained schools mostly from the College’s link areas in Scotland, West Yorkshire and East Berkshire.
The residential gave the students the opportunity to experience life as an undergraduate at Selwyn, by taking part in sessions with leading academics, exploring the city, speaking with the College’s student ambassadors and attending a formal-style dinner in Hall.
Students were given a choice of sessions to attend covering the Biological and Physical Natural Sciences, as well as Engineering. Those involved in the Engineering activities were given the chance to build Lego robots at the Department of Engineering with Outreach Officer, Maria Kettle.
Our Physicists met Dr Rosie Bolton at the Cavendish Laboratory to take part in an experiment. They were also lucky to be taken over to Lord’s Bridge, on the outskirts of Cambridge, for a tour of the telescopes. The Biologists met Dr Matt Mason at the Physiology department and enjoyed testing the conduction velocity of their Ulnar nerves, while the Chemists spent time with Dr James Keeler learning about NMR spectroscopy.
The students also took part in a ‘Murder Mystery’ activity organised by Dr Paul Elliott. The students had to work together in teams to solve a series of puzzles which would then open safes and provide them with clues. Students analysed fingerprint patterns, studied DNA samples and looked into the motivations of each of the suspects to decide who they thought was responsible for the murder.
On the final day the students attended lectures in Materials Science with Professor Sir Colin Humphreys on the usefulness of Gallium Nitride, and in Biological Sciences with Dr Amer Rana on developments in stem cell research. The Summer School ended with final session with Dr Keeler on how to make a competitive application.
All involved in the Summer Schools – the Selwyn academics, student ambassadors and Schools Liaison Officer Ellen Slack – thoroughly enjoyed working with the students, and look forward to welcoming more students to the College in the next academic year. In particular, we wish to thank Jim Dickinson for his generous support which has made this Summer School possible.
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