The 23^rd and 24^th of September, over 800 Aboriginal students gathered at Adelaide Oval for the annual Aboriginal Learners STEM Congress, where Ella and Alyise were both part of this with the support of Julie and Mr Jenner.

The Congress helps young people to engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning and industry experiences to inspire them to realise their aspirations and take on challenging subjects at school and in future learning. In addition to this, YAASTA schools present STEM ideas using the principals of various things like technology, music, dancing etc. that Aboriginal people have been using for over 40,000 years.

The first activity we did was hosted by Woodville High School and was about clap sticks and didgeridoos and the different frequencies they make. We all learnt different patterns and played them as a group. 

Our second activity for the day was learning about Kaurna stories through virtual reality, hosted by Yerta Services, who is a father and son team with roots to the Kaurna people. We were split into two groups, where our group listened to a Kaurna man Professor James Charles present a PowerPoint explaining Kaurna people, their land, stories and beliefs. We then swapped to the VR while the other group listened to the power point. 

The VR showed us different climates Aboriginal people lived through; how affective their healing was, the different weapons they used, their dreamtime stories through the stars and how the constellations showed them when the seasons were changing and it was time to move to let the land regenerate.

Following this, we heard from guest speaker Latishamarie Francis who told us about lots of different pathway’s STEM can lead to and about her journey following STEM and how it took her all over the world. She told us about how she had the opportunity to meet people from all around the world while discussing ways to be sustainable and how it impacts the world. She told us she also got to work for Disney productions in Sydney where she talked about how they could be more sustainable with their waste.

On day two we drove back to Adelaide oval for our first and only task for the day. Once again, we had guest speakers, including Kyam Maher who is an Aboriginal man and currently the deputy premier, Attorney-General and minister for Aboriginal Affairs among other portfolios for South Australia speak, which was great to hear about his journey both culturally and politically.

Following this, we walked through Adelaide to our next activity in the. This activity was called Crafting Realities and was a 3D art workshop where we learned how use an app that we could use to make things, but we made a snowman. But before we were showed how to use the app, we were shown a presentation about different games and movies that different studios create and how by following a career in STEM we could maybe work for a studio like them.

Following this, we made it make to Adelaide oval to have lunch and get ready to see one of Mr Jenner’s favourite bands – Dem Mob play. Dem Mob are a band made up of fellas from the APY lands, who rap in Pitjantjatjara and use electric music. They encouraged us to get up, dance and be part of a song which was great. 

It was a great experience to be part of, where I learnt a lot and am glad, I was able to go.

Ella Hahesy and Mr Jenner