Millennium Community

The winning teams that went through for the inter school competition

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) came up with a very interesting event recently. They invited ideas for toy designs from the 6th standard students. The toys had to created out of recyclable material and balloon powered and easy to build.

SAE has centres at major cities all over India. In Pune, it is ARAI that is working with SAE on this project. So companies that are into automotive development and manufacturing had sponsored this event. There were companies like John Deere, Cummins, Tata etc. Our corporate sponsor was John Deere.

The automotive engineers themselves worked as volunteers and trained the teachers and the students in our school. The training was for more than a month and for 90 minutes everyday. It was an intense session in which all the kids had to understand how vehicles work, air pressure and build vehicles. The kids formed teams of 4 each. Each kid was assigned a role in the team – like project engineer, test engineer, facility engineer etc. They were provided with a kit which consisted of a chassis, wheels, axle, straws and they had to construct an air powered vehicle using balloons. They were also given nozzles of different sizes – and the kids had to choose the correct nozzle depending on the test to be conducted.

The tests were also very interesting. First the vehicles were tested for perfection by the teams. Then, there was a distance test to check which vehicle travelled the farthest, a speed test to check the slowest and fastest vehicle, a sturdiness test to see if the vehicle could travel with weight and an accuracy test to check whether the vehicle could travel exactly for a predetermined distance. Each team had to make 3 vehicles and one of these had to be decorated using a theme. So even the aesthetics were taken into account.

At the end of the month long training session, we had an intra school competition. The kids
competed in these four tests against each other and the three winning teams went for the inter-school city level competition.

The inter-school event was held on the same lines, but it was at a higher intensity. The kids had to build 4 vehicles, decorate one of them and make a poster presenting the theme and the vehicle and all this in a span of just 2 hours. Here is something interesting – the organizers handed out Cadbury chocolates to the kids, but the Millennium kids didn’t bother even opening them as it would eat into their 2 hour time slot – literally! So, very responsibly and systematically the Millennium teams worked and finished easily. We were the first ones to present the project and there was a panel of judges who made the teams test the vehicles and then quizzed them on the vehicle, its working, the principles and the modifications that would be necessary to convert it to a real, life sized vehicle. It was mandatory for each kid to speak. Points were given for how they answered, how they
presented the vehicle and the tests they performed.

It was a grueling competition. There were 52 teams all over Pune and all these teams were well trained and prepared. The top three teams were chosen. And two of these were Millennium teams! Now these two teams are through for the National Level Competition. And the ‘Sci Tech 4’ team also won the award for the distance test and the speed test. It was a wonderful experience and we wish our kids all the very best for the Nationals at Nashik.

The winning teams are :
Sci – Tech – 4 : Pranav Mahajan, Atharva Lipare, Hrishikesh Alatkar, Param Gandhi
Young Explorers of Science : Antara Malwadkar, Sharvari Bhat, Aastha Daryapurkar, Riya Palskar

These were the facts of the competition. Now we would like to add in some comments of my own and the teachers and the students.

First of all, it was great that the industry actually came to the school level and interacted. It was a great learning experience for both sides. Why was this competition conducted? Because most engineers now tend to lean more towards IT than any other field. And the world needs mechanical engineers. So the top guys decided it was time to expose the kids to the joy of designing stuff for themselves. And it was such a great idea! The engineers made the kids actually think and do. So all kids were enthusiastically participating. It was not possible to brand kids as smart or slow – everyone was so active! So that was a lesson for the educators. We plan to make education, at least at Millennium, more project oriented now that we know kids enjoy it so much.

And what about the kids? They had an absolute blast. Here are some things that kids had to say
– We learnt to stretch our imagination and take it into real life
– When we heard about it, we thought it was hard. When we started it, we thought it would be fun and by the end it was totally exciting
– We learnt about teamwork and how to be cool and calm

And of course, all the kids learnt about air pressure, how it works, designing and so much more without even realizing it. And our teachers worked so hard with them too! Special thanks to Radhika Vaidya and Aarti Nivangune. Radhika is the science teacher of the 9th and 10th grade and Aarti is the drawing teacher. They teamed up to help the kids design and decorate and totally trained the kids for this competition. It was their single minded dedication that made the kids perform so well. The John Deere team also showed up very punctually every day and conducted the sessions in a very professional way. And last, but not the least, it is thanks to our principal Dr Phatak that this session happened in the first place. He recognized it as a good event and allotted the time and the place for this to happen. There were many schools in Pune that rejected the event saying that it was a waste of studentsÂ’ time. But because of Dr PhatakÂ’s vision, itÂ’s a whole different story at Millennium once again.

John Deere team and Dr Phatak

Their people and our people - a joint effort for our kids

The tractor that John Deere manufactures. All the winners were given this model