LIM JOE ONN
Catholic High School PJ Sports Carnival Deco
24-25 April 2015
This is an annual event. Students in Catholic High School PJ are divided into 5 colour groups throughout their high school lives. With a given time of 4 months, students of each colour group together with the assistance of voluntary graduated students and teacher advisors must come out with a 9.1m x 3m structure that represents the given theme. Only recyclable materials can be used to build these structures. Additional props and costumes are recommended.
These structures must be set up a day before the annual Sports Day and will be exhibited to everyone on Sports Day itself. Judges from the school authorities will critic the 5 different coloured structures based on multiple aspects such as aesthetic value, relevance to given theme, clever use of recycled items, human interaction and creativity. Results are announced at the end of the Sports Day event together with the marching and racing events.
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The huge scale and given restrictions in the brief challenges teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving skills of all people involved. Time management is pretty crucial as students have to juggle between their studies, personal schedules and commitment to the project. The competition drives students to be creative and innovative, especially during the entire design process and experimentation on materials. The competition bears resemblance with real life construction as processes of human resource management, architectural and design elements, proper planning, quantity surveying and estimation, precise measurements, material preparation and teamwork are included.
It also bonds new networks and relations between many people (seniors and juniors, graduated students and non-graduates, teachers and students etc), adding flavour to the otherwise dull academic routines. Also, it aims to create students who are capable of handling tough situations, time limitations and able to solve problems.
The theme given to my colour group - Purple House this year is 'Candy House'.
As a former student of Catholic High and the chief architect of Purple House 2 years ago in 2013, I volunteered to assist my juniors with my past experience and advice, as well as my manpower (painting, carrying objects). More hands make light work, together we can achieve more. Hence, many graduated students came back to assist as well when they are free, hoping that the whole team can come out with a marvelous structure.
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As all of us entered different higher institutions after graduating from high school, this competition serves as a platform where we reconnect with our former schoolmates and work together in achieving a greater goal. Out of five colour teams, we got the third place for this year. There's always a winner and there's always a loser. Hence, I felt that the whole process is much more important than winning or losing, as many experiences were shared throughout the journey from scratch to full structure. I felt that this activity nurtures the talents of people, enhancing creativity and skills. This statement is proven as the Sports Carnival Deco colour teams produced many outstanding design and architecture students, which includes two architecture Taylor's World Class Scholarship holders. In my opinion, school shouldn't be a place where students just study and get good grades. Teamwork, collaboration and multiple skill enhancement are essential for future employment. Activities and competitions like these provide valuable memories and experiences to young people like us.
I felt that it is important for people to share knowledge, so that it is passed down from one generation to the next breed of young talents. As an architecture student in Taylor's University, I am constantly exposed to design development, idea brainstorming and creative thinking techniques such as CRAP (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity) and SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Purpose, Eliminate, Rearrange). By sharing what I had learnt to juniors, a more aesthetically appealing yet theme-relevant structure with attractive colours can be produced. Also, group discussions encouraged everyone involved to be creative and productive. No group project can succeed without every team member's contribution.
Alongside with that, we were innovative when we experimented on recycled materials. For example, using unwanted CD discs for light reflection, water bottles for structural support, and purple drinking packets to reduce colour usage. As the cost of construction was limited as well, our team learnt to work under multiple constraints as the proportion of the structure is fixed as well as the short duration of the whole competition. Communication skill is vital as this is a huge group project where many members are involved. This annual event proves to be an exciting and wonderful competition to all of us!