Local Student Wins Biggest High School Science Award in Australia (16 May 2020)

Lowanna local Emma Serisier has been announced as the winner of the 2020 Australian Stockholm Junior Water Prize – and I wanted to share her amazing achievement and add my congratulations to those she’s already received.

The Australian Stockholm Junior Water Prize is the biggest water science competition for high school students in the country. The winner goes on to compete internationally for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize.

The competition challenges young people to think big and take a fresh look at local and global water problems. Emma’s award-winning study looked at identifying potential biowaste that could be used to decrease the phosphate run-off into natural waterways from agricultural fertilisers and animal manures.

Amazingly, Emma – who grew up on a farm – identified eggshell waste as an effective material to absorb phosphate. She also developed a free mathematical model and website for farmers to calculate cost-savings and application rates of eggshell on their soils.

Emma was also the Coffs Harbour Young Citizen of the Year in this year’s Australia Day Awards.

Besides her amazing scientific talent, Emma also cares deeply for her local Lowanna community. She has supported and assisted her neighbours, particularly the older generation, with their farm work for many years. During last year’s bushfires, she visited her neighbours and helped them prepare their houses and a fire plan. Emma has also been a generous donor of surplus farm goods to those in need.

It’s wonderful to know that we have such amazing young people in our community.

I’d encourage other local students between 15-20 to enter the competition. You can find out more here – www.awa.asn.au/asjwp

Frontline Heroes

It was International Nurses Day earlier this week – coincidentally it’s International Year of Nurses and Midwives too – and I wanted to highlight the amazing work of these key healthcare workers who are in the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 all over the world.

All healthcare workers are heroes, but nurses do make up the largest group in the sector. Without their compassion, commitment, care and expertise where would we be? They, and all their colleagues in healthcare, make an invaluable contribution to the health and wellbeing of us all. This pandemic has taken a tragic toll on medical staff and ancillary workers across the globe. They are true heroes. Thank you for everything you do.

Keep Up the Good Work

Please remember to keep up the handwashing and stick to social distancing. We’ve all got a part to play in stopping a second wave of this pandemic.