Category: Teamwork & Leadership

Teamwork & Leadership

Teamwork at Year 9 Camp

Charlie Harris |

About Camp:

In term 3 the year 9 cohort went to Kalbarri which is about 6 hours away from Perth for a week as part of the outdoor learning program. We camped out in many different locations like inside of a gorge as well as spending a couple of nights at the caravan park. During this week we completed lots of tasks and many fun activities. Throughout these activities we collaborated in small groups and sometimes we worked as a big group. When collaborating with others we had to work as a team to usually complete a task.

Teamwork:

An example of this is when we had to form two small groups and hold a tarp up and we were tasked to throw an egg from tarp to tarp. We had to move the tarp around and hold it at the right angle. We then had to time the movements perfectly to ensure that we gave the egg a soft landing without cracking it. I helped give recommendations of what movements we should have done so that we didn’t damage the egg. Everyone gave recommendations and we all listened to them so that we were including everyone and to ensure that we were hearing all ideas. We all had to have good teamwork and good communication to ensure that we all knew what we were doing. This camp had many moments where I had to use teamwork or display leadership.

Projects, Teamwork & Leadership, Uncategorised

Year 9 Science Earthquake Tower Project

Charlie Harris |

Summary of project

In this project we were tasked to design, budget and build an earthquake resistant building out of spaghetti and blu-tac. To start this project we made up small groups of around four and we had to complete a design sprint and make a quick tower. This stage was important as it showed us what we lacked and the flaws of our design. After this we used the information that we learnt from the design sprint and we made a stronger more firm design that we then had to budget. In this challenge we had $60 dollars to spend on the tower where each stick of spaghetti costs $1 and each gram of blu-tac costs $1. Once we had the design and budget we began making it. We had worked out roles before-hand to ensure that everyone was working to their own strengths. I was assigned to do the budget and help construct the tower. Once we had finished the construction we put it onto a shake table to simulate an earthquake. The point of this was to see how earthquakes affect many people worldwide and to see how well we can design a tower. Our tower lasted the whole ten seconds on the table.

Engineering process

This project required a strong design that could withstand an ‘earthquake’. Because of this we needed a strong design that would stay standing during the tests. After a couple of designs that went over budget or weren’t strong enough we decided on the design above. We decided on this design as it slightly slants inwards meaning that the tower will be harder to fall sideways or on itself. We also used triangles as they are the strongest shape and will strengthen our build. We had support beams throughout the design that also formed the shape of a triangle and they ended up being the main reason our tower was so strong. We also used a triangle base as it would save on money because there was one less side while also being strong.

Innovation & Enterprise, Projects, Teamwork & Leadership

Global Goals Semester 1 2022

Charlie Harris |

For the past semester I have been in an elective called global goals. In this elective you get to choose one of seventeen global goals and work on a project to help the world get closer to accomplishing it. The global goals are made by the United nations which aim to change the world and make it a better place. The United Nations are an intergovernmental organization which was founded in 1945 and aim to bring more peace and security to the world. All

 In the first term for the first few weeks we gained an idea of what the Global Goals are. We found out that there are 17 goals created by an organization called the United Nations(UN) whose sole aim is to make the world a better place. I partnered up with Charlie and we began deciding which Global Goal we would like to help, it did not have to be on a large scale but within a community, we chose our school community of All Saints’ College, now we had to decide on a exact goal to help. Of those 17 goals we decided on something that could help the schools environment and from that we decided on UN Global Goal number 11.

Goal number 11 is sustainable cities and communities, our community was All Saints’ college, initially we though of fundraising and putting it towards the schools aquaponics area, then to a sustainable garden on the school oval and then finally hosting a tree planting day in partnership with the schools grounds keeping and maintenance staff. Planting trees on the eastern side of the oval, where it is empty space unutilized planting native trees and plants would help save water which brings us to our goal of sustainable cities and communities. 

Our partnership with Mr. Gale, and Mr. Guy has allowed us to put this tree planting day into action, with there help we have  As well as our partnership with the grounds and maintenance staff, we have organized what will happen on the day, how many plants and a choice of plants all native. We also have our partnership with the college’s advertising committee alongside them we have managed to advertise our day across many platforms including the college courier, the schools social media pages as well as on the college screens.

Our tree planting day will occur on the 31st of July 2022, this date is specially chosen because on the 30th of July it is world plant a tree day and the 1st of August is school tree planting day so by having our planting day on the 31st it gives reason and motivation to plant.

Overall I believe that this semester was very fun and I believe that my partner and I were very helpful for the tree planting day. We helped organize the event but also advertised it and went to an expo where we gave out information. I think it was a great project to work on and it was very fun all semester long. I would definitely recommend this project for other students to take part in.

Projects, Teamwork & Leadership

$20 Boss

Charlie Harris |

On Wednesday the 16th of June, 2021, I took part in an Innovate ED program called $20 Boss. $20 Boss is where you get into groups and receive 20 dollars each. You then have to use many different design thinking processes that will help you develop an idea that you can sell at markets. Our group went through many different products but ended up making laser-cut keychains. In my group, I had Simba, Xander, Max, and me. We were then thinking and making many designs that we can cut but were having some problems with copyright. After a long time of thinking, we decided that we would laser cut letters for people’s names as it wasn’t copyrighted and we thought that it would sell well. Me and one of the other group members went to bunnings on the weekend and bought the keyrings. After making those outlines and getting ready to cut I stayed a couple of days after school and got the cutting done. We had some problems with how easily it would break on the vulnerable parts. The vulnerable parts were where the hole for the ring was and the outside as we thought it might snap. After changing the design a bit we came up with our final product. While I was doing all the cutting Simba was making posters and Xander was making an excel document to keep track of purchases and sales.

Market

The market was in the morning and I went early to set up. Not long after that, all our group members were there and we started the market. It started slow with a few sales but we got running and we started selling more. We had sold out of a product that a customer wanted and they placed an order. We sold lots of our stock and made a solid profit so that we didn’t have to pay any money back to the school that gave us the loan.

What we learnt

Overall it was a very fun project and we learned a lot. Although there were many challenges along the way our team persevered and got through it. After the challenges, there was always a bright side which was either getting through a hard time or getting through to a fun time.