PR E PA R ATORY S C HO OL
our creative thinkers:
Opti-MINDS
National Competition
Brisbane October 2019
A group of brilliant and creative
Preparatory School students recently travelled
to Brisbane to compete in the Opti-MINDS
National Competition. In their own words,
the students tell us about the experience!
Belinda
On day 1 we all arrived at the airport at
8.45am where we put on our WA state team
t-shirts and met the other WA teams. In total
there were 35 students representing WA.
Our parents said goodbye as we were called
to check in. Avani, Charlie and Georgia must
have looked suspicious, as their bags were
checked, but luckily they weren’t kept for
long!
The take-off scared quite a few of us.
Although the view was really pretty, we were
sometimes tilting or doing a few small dips.
We flew into clouds and the land was getting
smaller and the cars looked like ants. Our
adventure had begun!
Avani
Let me tell you about our hotel, Sheraton
Four Points. It was stunning, it was a four star
hotel so not quite five star, but it certainly felt
like it was.
Here is a little poem about the hotel
The first look in, is jaw dropping
Another step in and your heartbeat
begins stopping
Words fail to tell of my delight
Even though we are not at great
height
(our rooms were on the second floor of this
building!)
Joshua H
GOMA was superb fun. We did activities that
we hadn’t done. We looked at art creatively
while it made us smile. The night markets
were great and I got to go there with my
mates. There was heaps to buy, but sadly
no sheep! There was nothing missed, it was
a definite tick off my bucket list. That place
didn’t leave it half-done it was heaps of fun.
Michael M
Georgia
On day 2, our first morning in the hotel we
had a delicious buffet breakfast of waffles,
pancakes, bacon, juice, basically everything
that comes to mind when you think about
breakfast! At 8.30am when we were all full
we went to our rooms to get ready for the
big day ahead of us, visiting an art gallery-
GOMA, preparing for the Youth Forum and
going to the night markets.
On day 3 we attended the Youth Forum at
The University of Queensland. Our market
stall was called #Happy! It was about making
people feel happier so that they could give
someone else a compliment and make their
whole day better. We did this by giving out
handmade paper cranes, poems we had
written, pictures to colour and showing
people how to make stress necklaces. By
giving people these things we thought they
would be happier, less stressed and possibly
make others happier. This is called the ripple
effect. Some of the other market stalls were
about pollution, saving marine life, recycling,
dealing with emotions in schools and giving
young musicians a chance. It was great fun
at the Youth Forum.
Day 4: The National Competition
at University of Queensland
The Challenges:
The Long Term Challenge
(3 hours to solve)
Food for thought
• Recipes allow us to create delights to
nourish not only our body but also our
mind and soul
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