At the end of April five of the grade 7 students and two of their teachers from Xavier Jesuit School traveled to Phnom Penh for the 13th annual STEM Cambodia festival. STEM, which is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths is a festival of exhibits from students in secondary schools and universities around the country. It is a fantastic opportunity to see a huge range of experiments with explanations in both English and Khmer.

At the exhibition, the hall was a hive of activity. Each science exhibit allowed the students to try out the experiment for themselves. They experimented with interactive technology, watched with awe as demonstrators used simple ingredients to perform  ‘fire breathing’ and they saw the damaging effects of cigarettes on a real set of lungs.

Overall the trip was a great learning experience for the students and an important precedent for Xavier Jesuit School in encouraging Khmer students to see the value of science in action. Miss Aoife and Miss Kimsear were very proud of how the students represented the school at all times on the trip. A big thank you to Miss Kimsear for her help with the trip.