National Earthquake Competition 2015

Singapore Polytechnic's School of Architecture & the Built Environment organised the 7th National Earthquake Competition 2015 for all upper secondary school students in Singapore. 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.

We sent two teams to participate in the competition this year and this is what they say:

"On 8 Apirl 2015 we participated in the National Earthquake Competition(NEC). On 27 Apirl we got news that we were placed second. We started training for this competition long before the actual day. Our helpful and patient seniors taught us all the skills needed. Cutting the timber strips and baseboard,gluing all kinds of columns,tying the whole structure together... All these skills are extremely important in building a structure and we, as beginners,under the careful teaching of our seniors,soon learnt these skills by heart through countless practices.

Throughout the time spent, we gradually noticed that, every role is as important as the other. This is because without anyone, the structure will not be strong. If one mistake was made during the building process, the whole structure may collapse in the end. Everyone of us was very serious when working, just in case all out hard work does not pay off.

Communication among team members was also crucial. To prevent mishaps and save time. We must make sure that we manage the time as well as ensure whether that the others are doing the right thing. The communication between us did not just ensures that we do the correct thing, but it also encouraged others. Without realizing, we were growing stronger as a team.

We may have won but we have learnt so much more. Although we have been cut and burned, we could not be more grateful when holding the trophy." ~ Davin, Chenjing, Deriando & Christine

"For National Earthquake Competition we had to sacrifice a lot of our time to practise for the actual competition we worked hard for the competition so that we would get satisfying results. We had to stay back for training during our march holidays. We worked tirelessly and built structure after structure.When it was time to build the final structure, we had to make sure the things we did were up to standard. When we were done with the structure, we were anxious and afraid that our efforts would be in vain. Finally, it was time. We were invited to Singapore Polytechnic for the prize presentation. Our  team won the first prize. We were pleased with out results. It was all worth it." ~ RouTeng, Alexander, Antonio & Fei Tat

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.