It’s passion like this that has landed the Parkes High School captain the adventure of a lifetime.

Yasmin has just been selected to attend the London International Youth Science Forum.

In fact she is only one of 25 students in the country to be chosen from 400 applications.

That is certainly no easy feat for the 16-year-old.

Her selection came from her attendance at the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in January.

This also required her to apply, through the Parkes Rotary Club, where she attended a district level of the program of 30 participants.

That number was culled to 12, enabling Yasmin to attend the national forum.

“Attending the National Youth Science Forum gave me the chance to apply for other forums held around the world,” she said.

Yasmin said she felt “absolutely amazing” when she was selected for the London forum.

“It was an incredible moment,” she said.

“Considering I’ve never been on a plane before – what a way to take my first trip, it’s going to be pretty amazing.

“I take every opportunity I can.

“Coming from a small country town, I didn’t think I’d ever get in...and because it has a very strict selection criteria.”

Yasmin said they selected candidates based on their grades, activities related to science outside of school, extra curricular activities not related to science, other interests and why students are passionate about science.

“I’m rather interested in neuroscience – like what is consciousness because we don’t actually know what it is,” she said. 

And all her hard work has paid off.

Yasmin will fly to London on July 26, where she will visit numerous research facilities and universities, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, and attend several presentations, lectures and workshops.

Of course it’s not all work and no play – she will have the opportunity to visit popular tourist attractions such as the London Eye, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace.

The London program wraps up on August 9, but Yasmin is harnessing every opportunity she can to learn by also putting her hand up for the CERN Discovery Program which runs from August 9-15.

“Only people interested in physics would do [the CERN program], I think there are about eight of us,” Yasmin said.

“We get to travel through Paris, go site seeing and visit the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre and Arc de Triomphe, and we’ll have traditional French dinners.

“Then we’ll travel to Geneva (in Switzerland) and visit the Large Hadron Collider.”

But the journey does come at a price, that’s why – for those who will be attending – Yasmin will be present at this Sunday’s Rotary Charity Golf Day.

She’ll be running a 100 club fundraiser competition as well as helping out with the barbecue.

“I will need to fundraise, the program costs $8700 and the CERN program costs an extra $1300, which all doesn’t include spending money,” Yasmin said.

“The Parkes High School P&C Committee has donated $1000 and other people have donated too, so far I have raised about $3000.

“People are so generous and Rotary are so supportive.”

Other fundraising opportunities Yasmin is looking to host is an outdoor movie night at the end of the school holidays and, down the track, a gala dinner.

Yasmin does have a Go Fund Me page for those wanting to help her get to London and Paris: https://www.gofundme.com/parkes-telescope-to-london-eye, or you can email her at danddpotts@bigpond.com.

It’s only been in the last few years Yasmin has been a lover of science.

“I always really liked maths, it’s only been in the past few years I became interested in science,” she said.

“I think that’s because I’ve had more exposure to science and passionate science teachers.

“In Parkes we don’t have the same resources like students in metropolitan areas, so I’d like to come back and talk to other students about my experience.

“I can show kids like me that they can do things like this and that there are opportunities available.”