Five Special Prizes and Podium Sweep for College Science Fair Club at NIWA

The College’s Science Fair Club has once again distinguished itself as a crucible of curiosity and innovation, with students securing remarkable results at this year’s South and East Auckland NIWA Science and Technology Fair. Meeting weekly in the Science Centre, the club ‘s students engage in independent inquiry, research discipline, and critical thinking.

This year’s fair attracted more than 190 entries, with only eight special prizes on offer. Saint Kentigern students claimed five of them and for the second time ever, managed a clean sweep of the Premier award, previously completed by Ivy Wang (2023). 

The 2025 results culminated in a podium sweep, with Luka Manley (Year 13) awarded the Grand Premier Prize for the fair’s top exhibit, and Oliver Bennett and Yi Fan Zhang (Year 10) named Runner-Up overall. The club also dominated the Year 9-10 Physical & Material World category, claiming first, second, and third place. This marks the fourth consecutive year the College has secured both the Best Year 13 Project and the Senior Science category.

Luka’s project, Subsonic Airflow Simulator, earned him first place in Senior Science and two special awards: Best Senior Innovation and Best Year 13 Project. His wind tunnel design provided an educational tool to visualise complex fluid dynamics and physics principles.

Oliver and Yi Fan impressed with The Perfect Brew, investigating how brewing methods affect coffee acidity. Their project won first place in Secondary Consumer Science, as well as three special prizes: Best Year 10 Project, Best Use of Statistics, and Runner-Up Best Exhibit in the Fair.

Other outstanding projects included Eason Liu (Year 10), whose Weed to Watt explored converting invasive weeds into biofuel, earning him second place in Environmental Science. In Physical & Material World, Arush Gupta and Ethan Chong (Year 10) placed first with Whey Too Much Protein, alongside runner up ‘Best Use of Statistics,’ while Cindy Yu and Sophia Leong (Year 10) took second with Lookin’ Sharp, analysing how cello placement affects tuning stability. Jessica Jin and Ruolin Xiao (Year 10) completed the clean sweep with Pickle pH: The Daikon Experiment, testing how salt concentrations influence fermentation.

Students spoke of the competition as both demanding and rewarding. Jessica described it as “a fun and educational club to participate in, while enjoying the wholesomeness that this little community brings.” Oliver reflected that it “allowed me to explore my curiosity through independent experiments, while developing my skills in research, analysis, and presenting scientific ideas clearly.” For many, the fair provided invaluable lessons in perseverance, teamwork, and time management.

Teacher-in-Charge Ruby Huang, supported by co-lead Stacey Lim, praised the calibre of work. “The Science Fair Club continues to nurture young scientists who are curious, innovative, and willing to tackle complex questions.”