Community & Business
6 June, 2025
Curious minds shine bright
THREE young girls from Mareeba State High School are nearing the completion of an eight-month mentoring program that encourages young women to pursue a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Kyzj Catipay, Niah Abdalla-Caamano, and Lael Owens were accepted into the Curious Minds program late last year and attended a trip to Adelaide in December where they visited universities and took part in a range of activities within the field of STEM.
The program was created to provide opportunities to students who have the ability and knowledge to “dive into the world of STEM”, who live in regional and remote locations; come from a low socio-economic background; or have Indigenous status.
It is an eight-month hands-on extension and mentoring program that runs an in-person and online camp at the beginning and end of the program. It first started in 2015 and has since been delivered to more than 760 students across Australia.
“It’s a pretty competitive program. So, you’re up against everyone else in Australia who applied and then only 120 kids get in,” Lael said.
The girls spent most of their time at the University of Adelaide and attended a range of workshops including three-hour “supercharges”, where they were led through various STEM-related activities.
They also attended lectures from visiting professors who spoke about their careers, what they study, and how they got there.
“We did chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, and sciences. They were very busy days, we’d be up at 7am and stay awake until 10pm,” Niah said.
“I really enjoyed a lot of the supercharges, especially the engineering one. We got to make a little robot in three hours, and we had to get it over a ramp and that was pretty cool.”
Lael added: “I definitely liked the engineering supercharge as well but the physics one really interested me because we were learning about sound waves, light, and reflective surfaces.
They also visited the University of South Australia where they tested out a flight simulator and made an AI robot using soldering methods, which Kyzj said was “really fun”.
For the past six months following the camp, the girls were tasked with exploring their field of interest and creating a three-minute presentation which they will then present at their online camp.
Kyzj is researching psychology, Niah is researching how war has affected medicine, and Lael is researching the ‘twin paradox’, a popular thought experiment in the branch of physics called special relativity. The girls will finish the program in mid-July.
