9 November 2016

One hundred and fifteen Catholic students received major or minor bursaries in the categories of Computer Programs, Games, Experimental Research, Inventions, Working Models, Creative Writing, Science Photography, Video Productions and Posters Scientific Wall Charts, in the recent Victorian Science Talent Search. The students came from 13 secondary schools and two primary schools.

James Ghaly, a Year 3 student from Holy Rosary School in Kensington, was one of the lucky students receiving a major bursary, winning the Computer programming section for Years 3–4.

James described his project, ‘The subject was coding and I made a game on Unity (which the famous game Pokémon is built on) using the language C sharp. The game is about you being in a dark blue playing field, and your captor is an aqua blue sphere, and the playing field is surrounded by borders, so you don't fall off the edge of the plane and fall into nothing.

‘There are 12 rotating floating cubes and the aim of the game is to collect all of the cubes. One of the features I added is in the top left hand corner where the game shows your score. That shows how many cubes you have collected. At the end when you have collected all the cubes in the middle it pops up stating – you win!’

The Science Talent Search is an annual, science based competition open to all primary and secondary students in Victoria. The theme for 2016 was Drones, Droids and Robots. Students were awarded their prizes at a ceremony at LaTrobe University in October.