Science nut? Sure, if it gets me to Australia

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

It may be we’re too comfortable with the wildlife - porcupines, raccoons and birds - we see here, but Macall Robinson says it’s “everywhere” in Australia.

That’s just fine with him.

Robinson, a Grade 11 student at West Kings, won a month-long educational trip to Australia in a string of prizes and scholarships at the 2007 national science fair with his algae-based filtration system for his 50-gallon aquarium.

His trip pictures are in two albums: dozens of pictures of tropical birds, lizards, fish and sharks, giant toads, kangaroos and crocodiles. There are pictures of panels of mounted insects, models of animals and more.

They’ll fit in well with his collection of aquariums, dogs, cats, birds, a hedgehog; and a part-time job at Oaklawn Farm Zoo.

The trip, December 19 to January 12, was an invitation to take in the Australian National Youth Science Forum. “It wasn’t boring at all,” he says.

His first nine days in Australia were spent in homestay situations with three different families. he toured Sydney, spent Christmas at the beach and visited the “Florida theme park” venues around Brisbane. “I wore jeans one day and nearly died, and I got sunburned on the beach - it was fun and the people were really nice.”

They toured multiple wildlife parks and zoos - “there were kangaroos all over the place, birds, wildlife...,” he says, rattling off the names of exotic animals as if they were Canadian squirrels, raccoons and crows. “Then the work started.”

The forum gathered 140 Australian and New Zealand youth; Robinson and another Canadian girl were international guests. They stayed at the university in Canberra. “They made it fun,” Robinson says. Camp singing in a circle kept things light, but the youth also got a chance to sit in on science lectures on genetically modified food, climate change, nuclear power and more. They toured labs and helped scientists with research work - Robinson was looking at a study on genetically modified cotton.

He also gave a five-minute talk on his own science fair project, and made an impromptu presentation on Canada. “Everyone loved us - they wanted to hear us talk. I brought maple syrup and some mini-hockey sticks, so that was good.”

He says it was actually funny to run into as many people as he did who have been to Canada - although none had heard of Nova Scotia. “Now they’re trying to lure me back to university - and I’d go back,” as he’s planning to study marine biology: what better place than near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef?

First, though, he’s got not just his Grade 12 year to get through, but another adventure. Robinson had to come up with his airfare for the trip, but in the course of making presentations to local Lions, the school board and Rotary groups, “the Rotary people told me to apply for their student exchange program - I’d never thought of doing it, but one thing has led to another and I’ll be spending a year in Brazil starting next September.”

As for his next science fair project - the road to perhaps another national event starts at the end of March with the Valley regional fair, Robinson has already bought a microscope. “I’m looking at symbiotic algae - I’ve had to know about them for my aquarium, nd I’m testing them under different extremes: temperatures, why the coral expels it when it’s stressed out.”

There’s “no pressure” to be award-winning - again, Robinson says. “It’s fun, and I love talking about my aquariums.”