This was
one of the best CAS experiences this year. We participated in this competition
called the ‘Ideathon’ where we were given a task to pick up any global problem
that a mass amount of people face which could be related to either Science,
Technology or Business and come up with a solutions for it. We had to split up
into teams of 4 or 5. Unfortunately, I got the chicken pox and couldn’t go to
school for a week and hence couldn’t join any team or prepare for the
competition. But the day I recovered and went to school was the day of the
competition. The best part was that my coordinator let me join one of the teams
in which one person was absent. I was excited and all set to go even though I
had no idea what my team had planned to present.
They
explained their ideas to me the entire bus ride to the venue of the
competition, from our school. It was about how we could make water consumption
efficient when there is a high level of water scarcity. We rephrased our
solutions and also added a few more, before we reached. Our solutions included
using small gates in the water pipes which will close when the level of maximum
water usage is reached by every house or building and connecting this mechanism
to an app which can prompt the user. Another solution was that trees can be
planted in 20% of every construction area instead of using all of the land for
the building.
Since the
competition began very late, each team got only half the time that was promised
to be given. Hence, we could only present some of what we had prepared for. I
have to confess, I could feel the fear
run down my spine a million times every second from the time we walked on to
the stage till we finished our presentation. We didn’t qualify to the next
round probably because our PPT wasn’t up to the mark or because we didn’t do a
good job in putting forward our solutions. However, as we the CASians always
say, It’s not the destination that matters, it’s only the journey that does.
Having said that, the experience of this activity which happened in very short
span of time especially for me, was amazing and worth the time. We learnt a lot
about other problems and saw many different kinds of people out there who had
different skills sets and a lot creative ideas. The exposure and the knowledge
we gained from this activity was extraordinary.
