Genesis Energy Helps Home-schooler Realise Dream
Reuben Posthuma, a local homeschooled student, has recently returned from a fantastic week at the prestigious Genesis
Energy Realise the Dream event. Realise the Dream was set up to recognise excellence in research by school students.
Twenty-nine students from around New Zealand attended, as well as four internationals. “I had a fantastic week, and have
learned many different skills, as well as meeting heaps of great people,” Reuben said. The event, which is run by the
Royal Society of New Zealand, is an annual event, and was held between the 7th and 12th of December. “The standard of
research just keeps getting better and better by the year,” says Royal Society of New Zealand spokesperson, Debbie
Woodhall. Realise the Dream appreciates its many sponsors including Genesis Energy, New Zealand National Commission for
UNESCO, and Dairy New Zealand. Reuben’s project was a controller to regulate and datalog the operation of a
refrigeration system. This refrigeration system was built by one of Reuben’s friends, and is used his computer down to
–120ºC for optimum gaming. “It’s crazy the extremes people go to just to play computer games,” joked Reuben.
However, he cannot complain about the successes he has had with his project, which took out first place in the
Brightsparks HiTech competition, and then procured him entry into Realise the Dream. “I’m really stoked with this
success,” Reuben mused.
“During the event, we attended various media training workshops, which taught us presentation skills that are all too
often neglected by Science and Technology experts. We also visited many different industry locations in diverse fields.”
The highlight for Reuben, though, was a day at the Massey University Wellington Campus. “We got to build a robotic car,
which I added a few functions to. We were also taught the theory behind sterling engines, which convert heat into
motion.”
The celebratory awards dinner will be held at Te Marae, Te Papa on Monday 9 March, where scholarships and travel prizes
will be presented to many of the participants. For more information about Realise the Dream, go to
www.realisethedream.org.nz.
ENDS