Eleven Year 8 students from John Paul College participated in the Academic Challenge Day hosted by Kingswood College. They worked alongside students from schools across Melbourne on a series of academic challenges that tested their general knowledge, spelling, poetry, art, science, mathematics, engineering, and code-breaking skills.
A highlight of the day was when JPC student Keira J represented her team in the public speaking competition. With no time to prepare and in front of all the schools present, she spoke clearly and knowledgeably about Nepal, doing JPC proud.
It was a wonderful day, and our students left feeling challenged, inspired, and grateful for the new friends they made.
Keira Jessop reflected, “The Year 8 academic challenge day has definitely been one of my favourite days so far in Year 8. One of my favourite challenges was definitely the public speaking. You had to get up on stage, and they would give you a country and you would have to make a speech on it straight away. It showed us how to think on the spot. As I was working with the other students, I learnt that everyone is good at different things. When we were doing the challenges we all split it to what we were good at. The challenge day helped me grow academically and helped me think on the spot and show me different ways to achieve tasks.”
Denzel O shared, “The Academic Challenge Games Day for Year 8s was a lot of fun, having students from a plethora of schools compete against each other in activities, subjects, and of course, challenges. For me personally, I liked the engineering challenge: creating a catapult from nothing more than paper, a rubber band and tape. This tested our group’s ingenuity and creativity by constricting us to meagre materials. Although we did not win, it was a fair challenge, nonetheless. The day also sought us working with students with from other schools; making us step out of our comfort zones and exercising leadership qualities. The Games Day was an exciting event—if not for the series of challenges, then for meeting other like-minded people to share our interests.”
Chellah S said, “I enjoyed spending time with the kids from the other schools; it was really nice meeting new people and making new friends. the challenged helped me learn with socialising and improving on managing time with all the different questions.”
Alden M added, “I really enjoyed participating in the Year 8 Academic Challenge Games Day. My favourite activity was the engineering challenge because it allowed me to be creative and use problem-solving skills to design and build something. I learned how important teamwork and communication are when working with others. The day challenged me to think critically and helped me grow more confident in my ideas.”
Congratulations to our participating students — Ethan G, Emily S, Chellah S, Elijah R, Keira J, Denzel O, Dean A, Alden M, Ishan P, Thirdy R, and Owen F — for their outstanding effort and enthusiasm throughout the day.