From the 1st - 5th of December, I attended the 2019 University of Queensland (UQ) Young Scholars Program, along with approximately 200 other students in Year 11 from across Queensland. The program, located at UQ's St Lucia Campus in Brisbane, blew me away and completely exceeded my expectations.

I arrived at UQ on the first Sunday of the holidays and was immediately greeted with exceptional warmth and compassion by every UQ staff member. For the rest of the day all students participated in bonding activities and were informed about the schedule for the next four days. In the evening, we adjourned to Kings College, a potential residence for future UQ students. There, we found delicious food and comfortable rooms that we would inhabit for the rest of the week.

The program aims to familiarise students with university life before they begin their final year of high school. It gives students the chance to experience university style classes on subjects of interest to them. This can help Year 11 students who are unsure about their future study to find something that interests them, or to realise that a subject they were considering is not for them after all. Workshops in these different subject areas are punctuated by keynotes from some of Australia’s leading academics and businesspeople, such as the CEO of Netball Queensland, one of Australia’s primary energy experts and a policeman who was the Queensland finalist in the Australian Local Hero Awards.

I learnt a lot from every speaker and from the university classes, but for me personlly the best aspect of the Young Scholars Program was meeting so many like-minded people that were also about to start Year 12. I made too many new friends to count and I’m sure that they were only the tip of the iceberg; there were so many smart, motivated and courteous people that attended the camp. The UQ staff at the camp are all current or former university students that can give you loads of information and advice about everything from moving out of home to how to manage stress. All in all, the camp was a fantastic experience and I would definitely recommend any students that are considering university to check it out.

By Rory McDonagh