ASTROINVENTION COMPETITION 2006

Today may be a rainy day,but it was a good day for 4 of us(Richard,Matthew,Javier and I)We've joined astroinvention competition today which was held at Planetarium Sultan Iskandar,Civic Centre.St Joseph sent 4 teams which consists of 4 students in each team and each SJS team did not go back with empty handed.Before I proceed to the good news,let me just brief what was all about the competition

Many might think that Astroinvention was organized by ASTRO.Actually,it's not whereas was organized by Sarawak Astronomy Research(SAR) [if I'm not mistaken].This competition was started since 2003.Since many students and teachers are very keen to join this competition,the SAR team has come out with variety of categories besides invention.The competitions were Sub-orbital spacecraft invention , Astrohunt,Astrodraw and Astroquiz.

Among the schools which signed up for the competition are SMK Batu Lintang,SMK Dato Patinggi Haji Abdul Gapor,SMK Matang Hilir,SMK Chung Hua (don't know which one), and SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce.SMK Matang Hilir has sent around 30+ students to join the competition whereas others (including SJS) send around 15+ students.

Richard,Matthew , Javier and I joined the invention category.We were provided with a manila card,selotape,a short string,an egg and 40 straws.Mr Chong got a little bit furious because no scissors were provided for the competition.I do agree with Mr Chong because we were not told to bring anything for the competition.In the end,Mr Chong willingly drove his car to the school just to borrow scissors.Withour the scissors,I wonder how are we going to do and finish our invention within the time given.

All 4 of us planned really hard on the invention.Richard,Matthew and Javier were discussing about the plan whereby I was just bluring away and helped to get ready with all the stuff like cutting selotape,cut the manila card,bending the straws etc etc.3 of them were discussing on constructing the space craft with all the physic principle and concept.Like what Miss Mah said "actually physic is very easy,you just need to understand the principle and concept".Each of us were given 4 hours 15 minutes to invent the space craft.When each of us were busy doing our own task,Javier accidentally broke the egg....AHHH!!!...Die lo die lo...In the end,there's this SAR guy helped us by replacing the egg with a new one.He even told us to keep quiet and not letting people know about it.IT'S CHEATING!!...but who cares.Maybe luck was on our side.

We spend the whole 4 hours,15 minutes constructing the space craft.We sacrified our lunch break just to finish the task.After the time was up,we were asked to proceed to the ground floor whereby leader from each group was asked to go to the first floor with the invention.Many group invented very nice in the outside,but not in the inside.Ours was different.Bad on the outside,but excellent in the inside.Most group broke their egg after throwing their invention.Unfortunately for us as well,our egg just had a small crack at the side.Darnt...I do not know whether we were penalized or not....but in the end,we got a consolation prize for our hardwork.

PRIZE GIVING
Invention
- 2 teams from SJS won consotaltion prize which was a small hamper

ASTROHUNT
- 2 teams from SJS were in the top 5 and won a small hamper

ASTROQUIZ
- A student from 4A,Muhd Zul'Rifhan won 2nd place for the quiz


And the end of the ceremony,there were 5 more prizes to be given out.Basically,to make it fast,we were just given a quiz.I manage to answer one of the quiz and won another hamper.All thanks to Javier for telling me the answer(hahahahahhaha....)....I think that's about it for the competition.It was a fun experience and this planetarium was the 1st one in Malaysia.Ooohhh...I think not many people realize that.