by Tiago Amaral, Area Leader for the Sciences

Challenges and struggles breed innovation, and this last year has been a great example of that in CLIP Science. Our team this year could only be certain of one thing, and that was the unpredictable. From students going home from one day to the next, to thinking creatively on how to bring the students in contact with experts and novel experiences within the world of Science, we had to always be on our toes. Above all, the most admirable consequence of this academic year was the positivity exemplified by both teachers and students. Over time, everyone became more grateful for the activities we were able to run and really tried to gain the most they could from every experience they were engaged in, from a simple lesson activity to a more elaborate lab experience.

Our first challenge came in the form of World Science Day. World Science Day is celebrated on November 10^th of every year on the UNESCO calendar. For 2020, UNESCO establishes a focus of ‘Science for and with Society’ with the theme being ‘Science for and with Society in dealing with COVID-19’. In preparation for this day, we asked parents involved in the field of Science, both as innovators or frontline workers, to send their testimonials about their experience in this world. These testimonials were displayed at the entrance of the school and acted as a source of inspiration in many different ways. This first being how exciting a career in Science can be, we are fortunate enough to have many people in our school community involved in cutting edge technologies, almost carving a new field or career path that never existed before. Secondly, it was amazing to see the promotion of women in Science. We had several entries of those in our community sharing their experiences of working through their maternity times or making a call to young girls in our school that the world of Science needs more women to be key stakeholders in the community. Finally, this display board had many recounts of how hardworking and resilient our frontline workers have been throughout the pandemic, putting many elements of the readers' life into perspective.

During World Science Day we were also fortunate enough to have one of our teachers, Arminda Azevedo, interview Ana Luisa Goncalves. Ana Luisa is a researcher at FEUP and Medal of Honour winner from L’Oreal Portugal for Woman in Science. This interview gave our students the opportunity to hear from a young, innovative, researcher in her field, who is making an international impact from our own backyard here in Porto.

As students returned back to the premises, so did the opportunity to engage with the laboratories and school spaces again. The first of these series of events was our CERN S’Cool LAB, organized and built by Suzi Johnston, Sonia Fernandes, Ana Ramos, Raul Alves and Andre Vieira in conjunction with scientists at CERN, for students who were not able to visit the actual site in Geneva, Switzerland (I invite you all to read the article written by this team regarding this experience). Several weeks later, as we were saying goodbye to our most senior students, we were also saying hello to our newest members of the Middle School, with our Form 4 Science Tour. This was an exciting morning, for both teachers and students, as our Form 4’s had a chance to engage in a variety of experiments in our Science wing of the building for the first time. Last, but not least, our Form 9’s had to employ their investigative skills in a Science Escape Room, designed by Lara Amorim, during their in-service program.

We take great pride in seeing our CLIP students continue to be passionate about these subject areas beyond their time at the school. Our community continues to become richer with scientifically minded alumni. This year, we have senior students with confirmed offers for a wide range of degrees such as Biochemistry, Computer Science, Physics, Medicine, Aerospace Engineering, Environmental Geo-Science, Chemistry and Pharmacology. These students have not only been accepted to local universities but also to schools abroad such as The University of Manchester, University College London, University of Groningen, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Delft University of Technology, University Nottingham and The University of Bath.

Our team is excited about the unpredictability that will come in the next academic year. More projects, experiences, collaboration and innovation are always our goals. In conjunction with the CERN article, I also invite you to read other articles by our Science team regarding CLIP Marine Society/Escola Azul, CLIP Eco-Schools and how one of our CLIP teachers is helping in the preservation of one of our endemic species, Drosophyllum lusitanicum.