Community
9 September, 2024
Teen awarded for her STEM achievements
A TALENTED year 12 student from St Monica’s College has been honoured on the state stage for her proficiency in STEM at the distinguished Peter Doherty Awards in Brisbane last month.
Leila McLean from Mt Sheridan has always had a passion for science, and inspired by her teachers at St Monica’s, her parents and her friends, she has fiercely pursued STEM (Science, technology, engineering and math) from a very early age.
The 17-year-old’s desire to contribute to society through her intelligence and hard work have now led her to become one of the winners of the Peter Doherty Awards among over 90 applications in Queensland. With the $5000 prize she’s looking to further her STEM education through biomedical programs.
“This award means a lot to me because I’ve been passionate about STEM my entire life and it’s really exciting to be able to represent Cairns and the teachers that have had an impact on me,” Ms McLean said.
“I’ve been able to slowly build up from making volcanoes to thinking of my own creative solutions to problems like developing prototypes of things like a vertical garden that self-waters, so I’m proud to have grown my knowledge and be at a point where I’m able to come up with innovative solutions.
“Being at the awards ceremony in Brisbane surrounded by all the students I was excited to show that you don’t need to live in a big city to be excellent in STEM and living in a regional area doesn’t mean less potential.”
Motivated by her family experiences with critical health issues such as heart disease and cancer, Ms McLean has immersed herself in advanced programs like SPARQ-ed where high school students collaborate on real-life biomedical research with leading scientists during school holidays. She plans to study medicine or biomedical science at James Cook University in Cairns.
“STEM is at the base of everything that life is, science is at the front of everything that we do every day, in the way the sun rises and sets, in the way that plants and humans interact, and ecosystems are formed,” she said.
