Dominique Cotterill was our Agriculture zone winner in March 2013. An undergraduate student at the University of Tasmania, Dominique wanted to spend her $1,000 prize money on something that would help teach school students about growing food and about plants. Here she tells us a bit more about how she spent her money:

Dominique: I have donated the $1,000 prize money to Australian Science Innovations. They are an organisation that aims to encourage students to study science by running national science competitions and overseas science camps for year 7 to 12 students. Their mission is “to inspire, challenge and raise the aspirations of students in science…”. Australian Science Innovations runs the Big Science Competition for Australian schools, the Australian Science Olympiads, the training and selection process for the International Science Olympiad – the Olympic Games for science students, and the Asian Science Camp being held in Tsukuba, Japan in August this year.

I chose this organisation to donate to because I was encouraged by a similar organisation, The Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE), to study agricultural science at university. I believe it’s important to foster a student’s interest in science at an early stage and it’s thanks to events like I’m a Scientist, Get me Out of Here!, and organisations like PICSE and Australian Science Innovations that there are so many students going on to study science at universities around Australia.

Thanks Dominique for filling us in on how you have spent your prize money. It is great to hear how your achievement in I’m a Scientist is helping to reach out to engage and educate even more children around Australia.

Thanks again to Dominique for helping students make further connections in science. Our next I’m a Scientist event will take place from 26th August – 6th September.