Toy Design Competition 2014 (Automata Category)

The Design and Innovation Club participated in the Toy Design Competition 2014 (TDC14) Automata Category organised by Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte Ltd.

In this competition that was open to all secondary school students in Singapore, participants were required to construct Automata toys, consisting of snail cams, pinwheel gears, cranks and pulley system.

Despite facing tough competition from the many entries of top schools and with the standards of the submissions raised, all 3 Henderson’s entries were shortlisted as the top 15 submissions.

The students faced a lot of difficulties, especially when they are coming up with unique concepts and story-lines for Automata toys. Thus, they sacrificed part of their June holidays working in the workshop as they are determined to realise their design for submission.

Their hard work and sacrifice was rewarded when one team emerged as the runner-up and the other 2 teams clinched 2 merit awards.

 Runner-up

Lau Shu Yun - 3E2

Mesa Kyle Kristian - 3E1

Goh Ee Xiong - 3E1

Avery Koh Jia Le - 2E2

Merit

Ee Boon Siong - 3E1

Danny Lee Hao Jun - 3E2

Franklin Elsim Putra - 2E1

Tan Cheng Hian - 2E2

Merit

Wesley Tan Guan Yew - 3E1

Syed Muhammed Aseel - 3E2

Zekeriye Pak - 2E2

Ee Xiong
The competition wasn’t easy for any of us. Despite that fact, we chose to persevere and do our best. When we went to Singapore Polytechnic to receive our results, the atmosphere was extremely intense, just being present sends chills down my spine. We were extremely nervous as it is the first time participating in this competition for most of my members including me. Surprisingly, we achieved great results. The going was rough for us as we had to commit a large amount of time into working on our automata, there were lots of clashes in our schedules and great challenges but we overcame it together as a group. In this competition, the main attributes required as a group are creativity, teamwork and perseverance.

National Earthquake Competition 2014

Singapore Polytechnic's School of Architecture & the Built Environment organised the 6th National Earthquake Competition 2014 for all upper secondary school students in Singapore. Earthquake is one of the most devastating natural disasters on planet earth. Strong earthquakes and earthquake-induced secondary disasters result in catastrophic human suffering and loss of property. An estimated 1.6 million people died in earthquakes during the 20th century.

The competition aims to generate students’ interests on the importance of Civil Engineering in designing earthquake-resistant buildings and earthquake disaster mitigation. It involves student teams using MDF (Medium Density Fibre) timber strips and boards, glue and cotton strings to design and fabricate models of earthquake-resistant buildings. On the day of competition, models will be tested on a 2-Dimensional Earthquake Simulator to determine the winners according to the technical specifications and competition rules.

The students' hard work has paid off and Henderson Secondary School clinched one of the merit awards of this competition.

Merit Award

Ee Boon Siong - 3E1

Xie Tianyu - 3E2

Low Chermaine - 2E2

Aguinaldo Antonio Jr Dela Vega - 1E2

Chermaine
Though we did not win the competition, it was a good experience as we got to learn from our mistakes and further improve on our structure. I have learnt a lot from this competition, like teamwork and skills.

Clean Water Challenge 2014

Singapore Polytechnic's School of Architecture & the Built Environment organised the 6th Clean Water Challenge 2014 for all secondary school students in Singapore. The competition aims to promote the interest in water technology and enhance awareness of the importance of our water. It involves student team to build a membrane water filtration kit to clean the dirty water. On the day of competition, participating team will pump the dirty water through the kit to obtain clean water using hand pump.

The students' hard work has paid off and Henderson Secondary School clinched the champion and runner-up of this competition.

Champion

Danny Lee Hao Jun - 3E2
Tan Cheng Hian - 2E2

Avery Koh Jia Le - 2E2

Jacynthia Lew Yu Xin - 1N1B

Runner-up

Zekeriye Pak - 2E2

Teresa Zaw Tun - 2E2

Muhammad Nihal S/O Muhammed Ae - 1E2

Ko Kar Wai - 1N1B

Kar Wai
I am very happy to participate in the competition as it is the first competition representing the school that I am participating in. On the competition day, I saw many other groups from varieties of school ahead of us as they take the lead. At that moment, I felt unhappy because of the thought of losing. But in my head, I had the mindset to do my best in finishing the completion no matter what results we may attain. When the results were announced, I was happy that the result we achieved was really good, I am glad that I chose to persevere and do my best despite the tense atmosphere. After this experience, I learnt that we cannot give up even if the situation isn’t looking good. I wish to have more opportunities to represent the school in such similar competition.