While most of his AFL footy mates were off on school holidays, Marcus Valastro travelled thousands of kilometres to further his education this week.
The 16-year-old Darwin High School student attended the Indigenous Student Engineering Spring Workshop (ISESW) at the University of Sydney this week.
Valastro, who has already proved himself on the AFL field, impressed the workshop coordinators with his enthusiasm and dedication to the week-long engineering school.
"I want to play AFL but I also want to excel in my education,” explained Valastro, who attended ISESW to help him determine his future career path.
"The activity I have enjoyed and found the most valuable was visiting the mechatronic lab. I knew a little about mechatronic engineering but seeing the robots in action has really inspired me."
The ISESW provides Year 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who show an aptitude for engineering with an insight into the extensive career choices available to graduates It also helps young people define their study goals.
Valastro and six fellow students from across Australia took part in the elite program which included site visits to Google, ResMed and Laing O’Rourke.
During the week-long course, the group also attended study skills and essay writing workshops to assist them with their preparation for Year 12 final exams.
Marcus was encouraged to apply for the ISESW after attending the annual Indigenous Australian Engineering Summer School – held at the University earlier in the year – where his dedication was recognised, winning him the Bob Hawke Leadership Award.
Can farmers, producers and regulators work together at all points of the food supply chain to help curb Australia’s growing obesity problem?
Associate Professor Biercuk was recognised with the prestigious prize for contributions at the leading edge of quantum science research.
How can we distinguish credible wellness information from unfounded pseudoscience? And why is it that wellness gurus are often taken more seriously than scientists? Jackie Randles writes.
It's National Science Week this week from 15-23 August and for all you science lovers, we have created a list of the University of Sydney's most exciting scientists on Twitter.
Warp drives might be the stuff of science fiction, but they could be a step closer to reality if we look to Einstein's theory of gravity, according to a University of Sydney researcher.
The science of snap, crackle and pop has expanded beyond the breakfast bowl with an international research team using puffed rice cereal to explain the movement and crushing of porous materials when compressed.
From Einstein's theory of gravity to Aboriginal astronomical knowledge, University of Sydney researchers are proving there's no single formula for exploring a love of science this National Science Week.
A world-first intervention designed by Charles Perkins Centre researchers specifically for young people found mobile phones could improve health and halt weight gain.
Starchy carbohydrates were a major factor in the evolution of the human brain, according to a new study co-authored by researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Agriculture and Environment.
Scientists from the University of Sydney's School of Geosciences have led the creation of the world's first digital map of the seafloor's geology.