NISEP’s impact has been measured through anonymous surveys, interviews and focus groups with our student leaders and partner school staff. The program’s success is evident through the below feedback.
After participating in a NISEP event, of our secondary student leaders:
After a NISEP event, school staff indicated that of our secondary student leaders:
With the help of StoryMotive we have developed a series of videos highlighting the journeys of some of our former NISEP student leaders.
You can view the full list of videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@nisep
Students:
“Through my participation with NISEP I have been fortunate enough to be offered many opportunities fostering and furthering my interest in science, while gaining a perspective in this field at a university level. The program has also extended my confidence and built leadership skills, while allowing me to share knowledge and engage with my own community. These opportunities can be hard to come by in a rural Indigenous circumstance.”
“NISEP has been an incredibly rewarding experience for the both of us, as it has given us the opportunity to expand our knowledge and build our confidence as leaders. Being able to share our experiences with other young Indigenous students is definitely a powerful way of encouraging others to participate.”
“NISEP has benefited me in many different ways, it has given me self-confidence and leadership within my community and within the school too. It paints a bigger picture that Aboriginal kids can step out and they can lead the way for their people”
“I loved the experience of going to Macquarie University. It showed me a lot of things that are available for Indigenous people who are looking to complete further education. It has changed my mind of not going to university. Before the Macquarie experience, I didn’t really want to go to university.”
“When you’re a participant you look up to the older kids and especially if they’re Indigenous it pushes you to go bigger and brighter and basically reach for the sky. Yeah, and it’s very valuable to see our people get up there and not be shame and present themselves in a way that is good.”
“I know people stumble, but it’s just finding the confidence within yourself basically and without the science program I don’t think I would have any.”
“NISEP, it really opens your eyes to encourage you to believe in yourself and to have confidence within yourself to go up there and be the person that you want to be.”
“If you know someone that does it and they tell you to do it, trust them because it’s a good program.”
Parents and School staff:
“Our students love to demonstrate science activities to younger students, staff and visitors. They overcome shyness and grow in confidence. They love to interact with the University staff, and some can see themselves attending University. All of our participants can relate to the activities they are demonstrating, sometimes being surprised that they are enjoying science. Some of these student demonstrators have the privilege of attending the Indigenous Science Event at Redfern, and the Science Experience at Macquarie University. Students have told me that they feel more connected to their Aboriginal culture and heritage as a result. I love the impact it has on the self-esteem of our Indigenous students, and on their application to their studies.”
“The value is more than just a trip to Sydney… Because the beauty … of this program is that students are given the opportunity to be leaders. They may start off quiet, but by the end of the sessions they are speaking out and having a lot of fun. So they really get those verbal skills practiced in a way that is not artificial … making it a real situation where you’ve just learnt something and you are demonstrating it to someone else – it’s the best way to learn something anyway – and they then become a marvellous example for the younger students.”
“The main thing you see is the confidence of the students change over time … we’re not really here to create just scientists out of the kids, but we’re trying to get them more engaged in their learning through science. You see that and you see them move on to leadership roles within the community … They get the confidence from doing that here in front of their peers.”
“Over the course of the program, our students become much more confident. They’re not ashamed, they’re not embarrassed to do anything. They’re more likely to step up and volunteer. Definitely more confident. More outgoing. More engaged in class. More likely to be keen to do well in Year 11 and 12 and to finish school.”
“[The students] learn so much from [NISEP]. They start to feel so much better about themselves, self-esteem wise. They feel more confident. It’s getting them to them to the next step.”