Hot Pots – Year Nine Science Fair

The Hot Pots – a name, idea and ultimately a smart scientific and environmental success story. “Hot Pots” was formed in response to the challenge of winning the Year Nine Science Fair and once formed; Hot Pots launched itself on a roller coaster journey to the grand final.

We had different opinions about the project. One of us wanted to find out what was the best material to use to insulate a house, another one wanted to do a Solar cooking experiment – we just couldn’t make our minds up. Then out of nowhere, as we were flipping through the pages of our science book, we saw the title Solar Cooling. It caught us by surprise, because how was it possible to cool something with the sun? So we read more and learnt about Solar Cooling, and realised this was something that would interest teachers and students alike. Even though it took us sometime to figure out a hypothesis and method, we persisted with what we were doing.

The experiment turned out brilliantly, and our class presentation was very simple but effective. A week later, it was announced that The Hot Pots were through to the grand final, and we were over the moon. This was just the start of a nerve-racking week though!

From Monday to Wednesday, we worked harder than ever. All we talked and thought about was the final of the science fair. We improved our PowerPoint, and edited our scripts. We also got great advice from our class and science teachers. We decorated our poster and practiced our presentation over and over. We thought we were ready as ever…until we met our competition on the day of the science fair finals.

Words really cannot describe how nervous we were! Just imagine, speaking in front of three, scary judges, nearly all the science teachers, your parents and your fellow classmates; that’s exactly what we had to do! Our competition was seven other groups, who looked like they had done this a million times! As everything started to get going, the first group went ahead and did their presentation. It was great, and so were the other presentations.

“Now we have 9.8, with Tina Beacroft, Sahar Bhurtun and Owen Beattie” said Mr Chiu. We all went forward in front of all the staring eyes, and performed our presentation. It actually wasn’t as bad as we all thought it would be! We spoke our lines clearly, and our PowerPoint worked without any flaws. The audience seemed to be enjoying the presentation, and by the end of the 5 minutes we were allotted, it was over!

Then there was the agonising 20 minutes of deliberation. The judges emerged from behind the shelves of books and spoke first about the two runners up. Our group’s name wasn’t called had we been ignored? Was there still a chance of that glittering prize? YES! The winner of the Year Nine Science Fair is 9… point…. 8! Victory, joy, back-slapping, kisses and prizes. But the real prize knew that we’d worked together on a worthwhile project – environmentally and scientifically sound.

The prize of a $100 voucher for HMV (for each of us) was lovely, but not nearly as great as the feeling of winning the entire science fair. It also made us feel proud to win for our class, 9.8. It was a great experience for us, the “Hot Pots”. We lots of fun and we couldn’t have done it without our superb teachers!

Authors: The “Hot Pots” Team (Tina Beacroft, Sahar Bhurtun and Owen Beattie)

Editor: Austin Liew

The Rooftop Garden Quest

In the Rooftop Garden Quest, we had to make a rooftop garden reduce global warming and sell any produce we got. Our first move was to collect mandarin trees. As Chinese New Year was nearly over, any discarded mandarin trees were collected by students and teachers and placed onto the roof. Some science teachers then bought seeds of every kind- Radishes, Capsicum, Beans, Basil, Oregano, Flowers and Parsley and planted them in pots, but as we were running short of pots, some cups were used as a temporary measure. Mr. Chiu then decided that they needed more helping hands up on the roof, so in Tutor Period, students of 9D helped out with the garden.

There were lots of jobs to choose from: transplanting, watering, weeding, trimming the trees, and some brave students set out on a 1-week quest to annihilate every caterpillar that was unfortunate enough to be discovered by sharp, keen eyes. But waste not, want not: the caterpillars were not killed on the spot; they were kept until after school, where turtle owning students took them home and fed them to their pets.

Soil had to be mixed up and ploughed as well, and students had to mix soil of all varieties together and to ensure that it was well mixed; students had to plunge their hands into the messy gunk and mix it up.

Although the work was hard and the tasks messy, the rooftop garden was, and still is, a major success. Now the pests are gone and the peas (which had been planted first) are already starting to bloom.

Author: Jade Kim

Editor: Austin Liew

Interschool Equestrian Challenge (Part 2)

As with the heats, the final round was a combination of dressage and show jumping. Dressage is a test of skill and cooperation between the horse and the rider. It consists of a set exercise of movements in a small arena where the rider and horse are judged on precision, movement and style by two examiners at different locations around the dressage area.

Normally a dressage competitor would practice on their own horse for a long time before a competition to build up an understanding between rider and horse. However, for the Interschool Equestrian Challenge, the horses were randomly drawn shortly before the event and then allocated to riders, who only had a matter of minutes to become familiar with the horses before entering the dressage ring.

As the horses were all transported to Happy Valley from Tuen Mun just before the competition they were just as excited as the riders and quite nervous.

Clinton Whyte drew an excitable horse called Shining Gem. Just like Clinton, Shining Gem is a New Zealander, and was a famous race horse in Hong Kong, winning millions of dollars in prize money. Clinton also drew first competitor spot which added to the pressure.

Harmony Ho also drew Shining Gem, while Catriona Leven was given Majestic Warrior, and Xantha Leatham, Vitality Star.

At the end of the dressage section of the challenge Harmony Ho came in first place, Catriona in third, and Xantha in fourth overall. This excellent result put Sha Tin College in the lead going into the show jumping round. The team was proud of their efforts and their school, and tried their best for the team leader Ms. McIntyre.

Author: Clinton Whyte

Editor: Austin Liew

Interschool Equestrian Challenge (Part 1)

For the past two years, Sha Tin College has participated in the Inter-school Equestrian Challenge. The Inter-school Equestrian Challenge is a competition including both the dressage and show jumping disciplines. In 2007 the Sha Tin College team succeeded in securing second place overall out of the four schools that took part.

In 2008 there were a total of eight teams representing eleven schools. Each team consisted of three to four members. Sha Tin College entered two teams, called Shetland and Highland under the leadership of Ms. Elaine McIntyre.

The Shetland team competed in the first round on 4^th March, 2008 whilst the Highland team undertook the second heat on 11^th March, 2008. The Highland team secured third place to proceed to the final round. The early rounds were conducted at Tuen Mun Public Riding School.

The final competition was held at the Happy Valley Racecourse as part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Olympic Carnival on 5^th April, 2008.

The Highland team taking part in the finals consisted of Catriona Leven (Yr. 10), Xantha Leatham (Yr. 11), Harmony Ho (Yr 9) and Clinton Whyte (Yr. 9).

Four schools participated in the final round; Sha Tin College, West Island, King George V, and Chinese International. Out of these four schools, fifteen riders competed.

Read More…
Author: Clinton Whyte

Editor: Austin Liew