Page 18 - 2019 SEM 2

The Many Viewpoints of Science

Cooking Up a Breakfast Storm – Physics Debate Competition

Sr1 Commerce

Breakfast Boss Battle What better way to commemorate the last self-directed Up next was Sr2ScB against Sr2ScA, held in the AV2

learning activity day of 2019 than with some arguments Room. Again, class A swept up all three votes and
Jointly reported by:
Michael Ng Choon Hau Sr1A about science? On the 21st of September, six Senior 2 advanced into the finals. Meanwhile, Sr2ScE went up
Yee Wen Shuen Sr1C Science classes and Sr1ScA partook in a physics debate against Sr1ScA in the hall on the topic “Pros and Cons
Eunice Ang Min Shi Sr1ComA competition, a glorification of discourse on hot scientific of Internet of Things”; the former providing pros, while
topics. The two preliminary rounds took place from 8 the latter brought up cons. Sr1ScA was tough, though
Business is all the rage these days. To increase students’ a.m. to 9.30 a.m. while the finals were held from 10 a.m. Sr2ScE was not going to back down that easily. It was
interests in career development, encourage students to to 11 a.m. Students of the aforementioned classes were a good battle while it lasted, though in the end Sr1ScA
innovate, and train students’ logical thinking skills in the supportive audiences for the preliminaries; whereas achieved a landslide victory.
commerce field, the Business Department held the Breakfast the finals that took place in the hall had all students
Boss Battle event. Participation was mandatory for all Sr1 from the Senior 1 Science and Senior 2 Science classes The finals were between the two ScA classes, with
Commerce students. Hectic is barely enough to describe the spectating. This competition was held in a basic debate Sr2ScA saying “yay” and Sr1ScA saying “nay” to the
scene in front of the school hall from 29 July to 2 August fashion and had members from the Chinese Debate topic “Does Artificial Intelligence make human’s lives
2019. Team hosting each match, briefing judges on the rules more pleasant?” Tensions and stakes were high. Since

at the start of each round. both teams had top notch debaters on their side; it was
Students sorted themselves into groups of 10 to 12 beforehand and came up with anyone’s game. The results of the competition that the
their breakfast product. They had to be crafty and quick – the opening capital In the AV2 Room, Sr2ScA was against Sr2ScD on the audience waited an hour for was another perfect win
for their stalls was capped at RM100 and there should be no repeated products. topic “Should Malaysia use nuclear energy?” with class for Sr2ScA, crowning them the winner and Sr1ScA the
This birthed many products, ranging from heavier staples like Indomee and D as the supporting side and class A as the opposing. runner-up. Our Principal awarded the winners with
spaghetti to lighter treats like Korean rice balls and waffles. Afterwards was the Class A went with a strong start, while class D retaliated trophies, then all the judges, administrative teachers
matter of getting the word out, which mainly involved mass advertising over with points of their own. Both sides debated with such and physics teachers went onstage for a congratulatory
Facebook and Instagram. Students clearly went all out, as seen from the posters fiery passion that it seemed that they were arguing. message and a group photo.
and promotional videos made especially for this event. Eventually, class A got the upper hand and won the
preliminary round with a unanimous vote in their At the end of the day, everyone left with some sort of
favour. gain. The contestants had the experience of preparing
The moment of truth eventually rolled around, with each for this special contest and competing in it, as well
class (save for Sr1ComA and Sr1ComE) getting a day to sell Sr2ScC and Sr2ScE faced off against one another in as gaining valuable advice concerning their debating
out their products as quickly as possible. The following is the the hall, debating on the topic “Should Malaysia rely skills from the judges. The audience members were
schedule arrangements for each class. on wind energy as its power source?” Participants of pretty pleased with this contest too; it was surely one of
Sr2ScE debated for this topic while Sr2ScC debated the most interesting ones they have ever watched. The
against it. Eventually, the overwhelming statistics only downside to this was the rush of it. Despite the
On each day, students had only the second and third periods thrown at Sr2ScC proved to be highly disadvantageous limited time the physics teachers had in planning it, the
29/7: Sr1ComD
to get their stalls ready for the main event(which took place 31/7: Sr1ComA and Sr1ComE to them, and in the end, Sr2ScE had the last laugh in event took place smoothly. Many would love for it to be
during the first recess), and had to clean everything by the 1/8: Sr1ComB this round with two out of three votes. carried out next year, featuring all Senior 1 and Senior 2
end of the two periods after recess. 2/8: Sr1ComC students, even those not in the Science classes.

As soon as the first recess bell rang on those four days, hordes of students immediately flocked to the front of the school hall to
get their breakfast fixed. One could see tons of students piling up in front of stalls while the Sr1 Commerce students struggled
to keep everything in order. Each class’s respective Economic teachers were there to check on the students to ensure that they
weren’t breaking rules, like setting up pre-orders. Giant banners were also waved around to attract customers to their respective
stalls. This scene could surely be described as chaotic, though it didn’t last for long – everything was gone in 5 minutes flat, at
best. Many had to leave empty-handed with sighs of disappointment. Once the crowd let up, each group took a group photo,
signifying the end of their journey of hard work, and began with the cleanup.

Overall, this event was a smashing success. Though many students sacrificed sleep just to get a perfect product (one that
wouldn’t cause food poisoning) out the door, it was still a pretty fun first-time experience of selling food. From this event,
students got to learn about event planning, money management, and co-operation between their classmates among other
things, which will come to be really useful skills in two years time when they have to deal with the even crazier and chaotic
mess of a crowd at the Chinese New Year Bazaar. Customers loved the food too, though some foods were more lacking than Sr1ScA the runner-up
others. The starting budget was the main point of criticism of this event; it was simply too low to provide for such a ginormous Another perfect win for Sr2ScA, crowning them the
winner
audience. Here’s to hoping that this event turns into an annual tradition since it serves as a great heads up for fresh seniors as
to what awaits them later in life. Jointly reported by:
Tan Yi Khai Sr1ScD
Thian Yi-Ming Sr1ScD
Michael Ng Choon Hau Sr1A

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