Treading New Waters, Breaking the Ice
by Simone Marie Pascal, Jeyasankar Shanmugapriya Vasubbratha
Students were filing into the concourse after a long Day One filled with mathematics, computation, and new friends. The atmosphere was bustling with activity, with an air of anticipation and excitement for the coming tour. As the students congregated and chatter shrunk into excited whispers, they were arranged into their respective groups to begin the tour and games.
The students were then split into two portions — some would go through the tour first, and others would participate in the games facilitated by their Student Programme Liaisons (SPLs), while they struggled and laughed over each other’s guesses.
Charades, Broken Telephone, Emoji Pictionary… you name it. All the activities were lovingly dusted with a special touch relating to SIMC2.0 or the different countries the students were from — a great way to bond students from different walks of life.
As for the rest of the participants, off with the tour! Beginning at the House Wall, participants learnt about the Houses of NUS High: Faraday, Fleming, Fibonacci and Nobel, named after famous scientists and mathematicians. Then, they were brought to Oasis, where they should head if they need to wind down for their mental well-being. And they finally headed over to the Cloud amphitheatre for a quick photo-taking, before discovering some fun facts about our school’s new eco-garden…
Did you know that onions are actually leaves?
When approached by Epigraph during the tour, many of the students complimented the quality of the food, the hospitality of their hosts as well as the invigorating energy that electrified the corridors of the school. Some participants couldn’t even contain their excitement for the subsequent programmes:
“The breakfast was amazing, the lunch was amazing, and I can see that the dinner’s gonna be amazing too!” exclaimed Khairil Zaki from Maktab Sains, Brunei. His schoolmates also shared similar views on the food and atmosphere.
Participants even described to Epigraph their awe for our campus, drawing comparisons to their own schools. Many had science labs similar to NUS High, and several students also recounted about how they enjoyed the library in their school, much like how Node is a beloved student space for us.
Epigraph also invited participants to share about the special facilities in each of their school campuses.
“I really enjoy the library [in my school] and the vast variety of books,” said Jia Ze from Team Malaysia. He also talked about the special facilities in his school. “Our school has science labs for biology, chemistry, and physics where we conduct experiments.”
Similar insights were shared by Pawel from the Polish team. “We have a couple of labs, two or three, for chemistry and biology. We also have [that] kind of lab for physics where we have special machines and [an] IT lab with many computers and 3D printers.”
To wrap things up, the chatter reached a crescendo as students returned to the concourse to finish their games — ending the day with a bang. All in all, the students had a packed but undoubtedly unforgettable first day of discovery and fellowship.
Epigraph signs off for Day One. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s events!