My Experience at Kuwait Children Science Congress (KCSC)
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Nowadays, time swoops within a moment's notice. One second you were watching the sunset, and in a few hours, it's Christmas morning. So, I always keep in mind to enjoy every second of life. You make great memories in this way. The other day I was dusting the shelves. It had been a long time since I had done that. I found my old travel book, and as I flipped through the pages. A picture found its way out of the book. It was a picture taken around a month ago of my friend Arya and me. We were standing at a stall for our project. So, today I shall tell a tale of hard work and friendship leading to flying colours.
Around six months ago, I was strolling around the corridors of our school and saw a few fliers for the upcoming KCSC projects. It is kind of like a science fair, but instead of models, one presents their inventions) I realised that we had the opportunity to work in pairs. I took a moment to think about who I wanted to team with me. My partner would find me instead. The next day, as I was taking my usual afternoon nap. The phone began to ring, and it was a call from Arya. I picked up and agreed to be her partner.
We brainstormed all sorts of ideas with our teachers. These include using bee wax to make candles, modified eco-bricks and using cotton buds as stuffing for toys. These projects didn't stick with us. I probably had to throw at least 15 pages of Microsoft Word documents simply because we thought they felt half-baked. After a millennial searching through ideas, we found something worthy. (Any guesses?) We made Bioplastics from fish scales. I know that fish scale plastics might make one puke their insides out. But I assure you that it looks like regular plastic.
Making an idea that has never been done before and expecting it to work is no easy stunt. There are way too many variables, like cutting the cost while still being user-friendly. The first major problem was using pre-made chitin to make plastic. But this stuff is not cheap. (Like jaw-droopingly expensive, a few grams cost around 50 KD) The first few tests were not promising. But we finally found a way to make transparent plastic.
We made progress, but the final products needed design modifications. Though we needed to rehearse on presentation, proper delivery of lines was essential to strike gold. We did trials at school or in our neighbourhoods. We decided to contact you through zoom. We made props with the help of the art department.
Let's skip forward to the big day. I got up at 5 in the morning. Then we packed up and reached the stall at Smart Indian School at stall no.11.We were excited and went all around the place and even brought Arya's pet fish for display. We spend days crafting the props like a sign, a bunch of charts, a survey result book and log books. The best part was an illuminating fish made from our plastic and a bunch of smaller fish props. All the kids were super excited, and I met my friends.
Being a first-time participant, I didn't know anything about the meeting with judges. They were stern but friendly and asked a few questions at our VIVA. I was worried our project wasn't the best of the best, but in the end, we won.We called each other out of excitement and had a small party.KCSC is an event conducted by science International Forum of Kuwait a branch of vinjan bharathi under government of India. It is conducted every year in all Indian states and Middle East for improving research based thoughts of Indian students. The selected group can present there work in India in National Children Science Congress (NCSC)with the children from all states of India in front of eminent scientists of India. This year the national event will be in Gujarat.
We have no idea of what is coming as we need to present the projects in Gujarat. I believe that working on projects for the betterment of humanity is no easy stunt, but it gives one the experience of accepting defeat and presenting in front of a crowd. I hope everyone I met that day gets inspired to do any project and enjoy the bliss of undertaking it. Now dear reader and Mr. Paper, I hope the tale was fascinating and remember that doing something that has never been done before is hard, but it is fulfilling and helps you change the world. That ends another chapter, dear friends. Hope to see you next time.
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