Dear AUSSEF Sponsors and Supporters,
We have hit the ground running over here in Columbus, Ohio. We arrived on Thursday, after being in transit for 30 hours (NZ team 33 hours). The ISEF Fair officially starts on Sunday with registration, setting up project displays and the Pin Exchange, so we like to come a few days earlier to acclimatise and get the opportunity to see some sights of Ohio.
On Friday, we visited the historic North Markets to purchase supplies for our rooms at the Drury Plaza Hotel Columbus Downtown. We then walked through downtown Columbus (which is very clean and beautiful) to the Centre of Science and Industry (COSI), which is one of the finest museums in the US. The dinosaur and shark exhibits were just amazing, we have nothing like it in Australia. The highlight of the day was that we were given a sneak peak of the Unofficial Galaxies exhibition, which was opening the next day. At Dallas Airport, I contacted COSI to arrange a visit the next day and when they heard who we are and that we are attending ISEF, they promised us this amazing experience. The Exhibit opens tomorrow, so we were privileged to walk through the Star Wars exhibit with no crowds and just have the designers and workers there putting together the many last touches. The ISEF students and chaperones were on a high after this visit. From COSI we walked to FASTSIGNS Columbus printers who have printed and assembled our 6 foot by 5 foot tri fold posters (sorry about the US dimensions). Our posters turned out brilliantly, much to our relief, for we have had many anxious moments over the last 48 hours before departure, getting these proofed and approved.
On Saturday, we took a 2 hour chartered trip to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where we went to an historic covered bridge, a nature trail walk, a visit to Kendall Lake and visited the Brandywine Falls, which were most impressive after recent weeks of rain. From there we were dropped off at a stadium at Ohio State University to see the semi-finals of the NCAA National Men’s Volleyball Championships. Being immersed in a huge college sporting event was quite an experience with college bands and cheerleaders. We definitely got our cultural americana experience at the volleyball.
In the next Update we will be transitioning from tourists to competitors as we launch into ISEF which begins on Sunday. We are setting up a Gallery of ISEF 2025 Highlight Photos and Videos which will get populated over the next few days. We are so appreciative of all the financial support that we have received from our many sponsors and donors, which has provided these 10 STEM students an experience that has already impacted them and will impact the next generation of Australian and New Zealand STEM students.