05 November 2025
A crew of creative problem solvers from Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School will be hoping to strike gold in the national final of a prestigious STEM competition early next month.
The school’s all-female team of Vimbainashe Dickson, Riley Marzhew, Chloe Richards, AJ Knox and Ara Paulina Miranda will head to Adelaide to compete in the final of the STEM Innovation Experience after winning their online regional showcase qualifier.
Ara Paulina Miranda is one Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School STEM team members.
Organised by the University of South Australia, the contest encourages young innovators from around Australia to develop their problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills.
Teams are set challenges and given projects to complete across the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In the regional phase, the assigned tasks were inspired by a theme of “Flood! Fire! Famine!”.
Ella Goss, science teacher at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School and team coordinator, was impressed by her students’ ingenious engineering to earn top honours in a chicken and egg challenge.
“The team was tasked with creating a device that could move a 3D-printed chicken and lift an egg along a designated track,” she said.
“I was most impressed with the creativity and resourcefulness they demonstrated by building a low-tech device from scratch that utilised everyday materials.”
Miss Goss says the team’s success in making the final, to be held at the University of South Australia campus on November 6, was a highlight of her teaching career.
“Watching my students collaborate and support each other over the past year while working on this challenge has been one of my proudest moments as a teacher,” she said.
“Seeing the excitement and joy when they realised that all their hard work paid off was an incredibly rewarding moment.”
Miss Goss was excited to see the competition generate so much positive attention around STEM subjects at her school.
“As a science teacher, cultivating my students’ interest in STEM, particularly as a future career pathway, is a highlight of my job,” she said.
“I am always giving my students opportunities to engage in problem-solving and ensuring that students have a safe space to take the kind of creative risks STEM thinking requires.”
Find out more about the STEM Innovation Experience.