On Saturday 5 March, two teams travelled to Westlake Girls High School on the North Shore to take part in the New Zealand Young Physicist tournament. The girls' team comprised of Prabhjot Kaur, Hayley Ngo and Aimen Sana, while the boys team was Adam Scott, Shekhar Paliwal and Braden Robins.
The teams worked very hard - staying back after school most days from 25 January. The week week prior to the event, saw us working in S4 until 7pm each night.
The other schools (those who do well) started on their practical investigations in September last year, so, with our limited preparation time, I think our teams did well.
The girls' team presented on topics such as the physics behind what makes a superball bounce so differently to a tennis ball, and the physics involved in maximising the performance of a home-made electromagnetic train. They placed 16th out of a total of about 30 teams entered.
Our boys did very well, placing eighth overall and only 1-2 points behind top teams from Kings College and St Cuthberts. They presented on topics including what creates and affects the vortex formation caused by a body moving through water, and why two phone books interleaved together can be virtually impossible to pull apart.
After spending weeks working with them, I can say that I was impressed with their commitment despite extreme exhaustion setting in, their persistence and their supportive team work amongst themselves. They really did us proud.
Thanks to Miss Fong who came along to help transport, to judge and to support - she gave up her whole Saturday from 7am to 7pm (beyond the call of duty).
Mrs Fenella Colyer, Teacher in Charge