Abstract:
Participation in high level mathematics in high school has drastically decreased over the last few decades, and even more in regional and rural areas. As a mathematics student with a regional background, I believe it is worth reflecting on why I fell in love with the subject. I firmly believe my love for science and maths was built on the many extracurriculars I participated in. In person exposure to STEM research inspired me to pursue mathematics, and I believe it can inspire other regional students if it is made more accessible.
Blog posts:
I love mathematics, but this isn’t a love that I was born with. Rather, it’s a love that was fostered by curiosity and having experiences provided to me that I couldn’t get at home. I grew up in a regional town in Queensland 6 hours from Brisbane, and from most universities and research institutions. This meant growing up with almost no idea what a career in STEM research might look like.
Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to participate in many extra-curriculars, which I credit for my love of mathematics. In grade 8, the World Science Festival came to my town for two days. People spoke about their research and the impact it was having on the real world – and I loved it!
Having a spark ignited for STEM subjects encouraged me to apply for more opportunities further from home, including the UQ Maths Summer School and QUT Young Accelerators STEM camp. At this point, maths was something I was good at – I enjoyed problem solving and getting the answer right but beyond that it was kind of boring. The Summer School changed this completely. I heard from professionals who had completed maths degrees (which I didn’t even know were a thing!) and were now using those skills to do all sorts of amazing things. One speaker told us about how they used maths to find the most efficient way to get ships in and out of a port in Weipa and saved the ports millions of dollars in operational costs. It was the first time maths was shown to be this incredibly useful real-world tool, answering the question – “when am I going to use this outside of school?”.
I had a similar experience at the QUT STEM camp, learning about how maths can be used to predict the movement of objects in space. This camp was especially impactful because I stayed on campus for a week, for free. This made the invaluable experience more accessible as a regional student. Suddenly I could imagine studying the maths that I had fallen in love with. This led to me applying for a maths and science degree at QUT, causing a domino effect that has led me to researching how maths can be used to optimize cancer treatments.
As of 2026, the number of high school students participating in high level mathematics has dropped significantly. Many regional schools have similar stories, no longer offering advanced mathematics, like my own. When I reflect on why I love maths so much, I realize its because I was exposed early on to its many exciting applications . I firmly believe the decreased participation in maths amongst high schoolers, especially regional high schoolers, is because they simply don’t know how maths is really used beyond the classroom. How do we solve this? Bring STEM research exposure to the regions – like the World Science Festival visiting my town. In person, accessible, opportunities made me love maths, and I believe it will do the same for other regional students.
