2014 School Magazine

Competitions

INTERNATIONAL YOUNG PHYSICISTS TOURNAMENT (IYPT) CLAIRE ULRICH (12L)

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CHALLENGE ABIGAIL ASHFORD (9R) In Term I, a number of BGGS Year 9 and 10 students departed the School for the Science and Engineering Challenge. This challenge, held at The University of Queensland, exists as a way of encouraging aspiring high school students to take on advanced mathematical and scientific activities by presenting to them a friendly but competitive, interschool event. Engaging challenges are designed specifically to mimic a series of real life, current issues in science and engineering, addressed either in a full-day, or two half-day briefs. Competition included students from schools around Brisbane, including tough rivals from BGS and Queensland Academy. We were presented with everything from paddle-pop stick bridge building; transferring electricity across miniaturised power distribution networks; designing earthquake-resistant paper high rises; all the way to designing a Lego Technic vehicle model capable of enduring the rugged terrain of a mission to Mars. All teams performed admirably and Brisbane Girls Grammar School upheld our strong reputation within the competition. Individual teams excelled and this resulted in a strong second place for Girls Grammar at the end of the day. Overall the day provided an interesting, enjoyable insight into careers within Science and Engineering and I think that every girl valued the experience greatly. ■

In early March 2014, the IYPT Australia tournament was held at BGGS, to select the five members to represent Australia at the international round. After the first three rounds, BGGS Team 1 was in the lead, consisting of Serena Edwards (12E), Gemma Coyne (11W) and myself, closely followed by BGS and All Saints Anglican School. After an exciting final, BGS won the competition. Sivagowri Somasundaram (12M), Alastair Butcher (ASAS) and I went on to the 27th IYPT in Shrewsbury, UK. It was an incredibly fun and exciting experience. We began the trip with some extensive training sessions in Manchester and the four days of competition were extremely intense with some very late nights fixing presentations. We were lucky to interact with a range of people from twenty-seven other countries from around the world. IYPT 2014 was such an exciting and amazing experience; it is a memory that Sivagowri and I will keep forever. ■

TITRATION JACQUELINE JACO (11B)

This year I participated in the titration competition, a chemistry competition in which Year 11 and 12 students work together on a titration experiment. The event was held at The University of Queensland and there were many schools competing. I enjoyed working with the other girls who shared a similar interest in Chemistry. Prior to the competition, Mrs Ross taught us the theory of titration, gave us tips on how to perform the titration experiment and provided the necessary calculations. We had a number of practices prior to the competition, which helped me improve my accuracy in titrating and generally my efficiency in carrying out experiments. I found the knowledge I gained from this experience very helpful when we covered the topic of titration in class during Term III. The competition itself was a very fun day and overall the competition was a challenging but very worthwhile experience. ■

CO-CURRICULUM / 113