The Tech Challenge

Saturday 5th October 2024

Not being early birds, we had quite a bit of a long morning on this day as we were to set out for Nakuru at 5:30 in the morning. The journey to Nakuru went smoothly as most of the people on our bus were asleep. We got to Melvin Jones Academy in Nakuru at around 9:30 am where we gathered in the hall for breakfast and a small orientation with guidelines on how we would go about the whole event. We attended the event as judges where we were to follow the rubric and assess  the rovers the learners had made and how the rovers would move from one ravine to another with the help of the bridge they had come up with.

We had the pleasure of doing both the interviews of the teams and also assessing the performance of the rovers on the various ravines. It was quite an immersive  experience seeing the innovativeness and creativity among the learners and a chance to interact with the learners. This was a very eye-opening experience not just for us as judges but also the learners as we all got to see the different levels of creativity that cut across the CBC grades. What really stood out for me was that there was a team who had decided to replicate London bridge made of cardboard and sewing thread where one side of the bridge could be raised by the other side of it as the sewing thread was passed through the tower of the bridge and attached to the other end of the bridge therefore making it easy for the rover to slide and climb from one ravine to another with much ease.

There were numerous teams participating on this day, as it marked the inaugural day of the competition and was dedicated to the primary learners, who constituted a larger number compared to the high school students who would be competing the following dayWe got the chance to meet some of the board members of Tech Interactive who were very welcoming and I got a scope of why and how they hold this event annually. What came out strongly for me was the fact that they try and instill soft skills in the students like confidence, teamwork, proactiveness and perseverance and creativity thus equipping learners with more than just an improved mental capacity. We attended day one’s award ceremony after all the performance for the day was done.

We also attended the dinner prepared for all the Judges and staff present during the event. The dinner was splendid with a saxophonist playing and creating an environment for light hearted conversations and evaluating how the day was like each individual. After the dinner we headed to our respective hotels to rest and prepare for the next day.

Sunday 6th October 2024

It being the last day of the challenge we got up and prepared for the day while packing since we were still checking out of the hotels as we did not have enough time after wrapping up with the challenge. We had quite a fulfilling breakfast then headed on to the school as we were behind schedule and the students had already arrived. Much like the previous day I was in awe of the student’s creativity and their teamwork was exceptional. On this day, I heavily participated in assessing the performance of the rovers the students had designed and created.

At around noon all the students had presented and showcased their rovers and we headed for the award ceremony where they recognized the winners of the day and the judges were commended for the work done for both days tirelessly.

The ceremony came to an end at around 1:30pm and we were asked to board our respective vehicles and set out for Nairobi. After a few stops along the way which were mostly to enjoy the beautiful scenery and take pictures  we got to our destination at around 7:00 pm. We look forward to next year’s event to see all that the young brilliant minds will come up with.