Ellie Comer (Whitchurch High School, Cardiff) writes from Wales, where the Schools Geology Challenge began.
‘On the evening of 1st March, Whitchurch High School (left) played host to the 7th Annual Southern Wales Schools Geology Challenge. The topic for 2016 was ‘Water’s Role in Geological Processes: Help or Hindrance?’, and the three finalists were Coleg Sir Gâr, Barry Comprehensive, and of course, Whitchurch High.
The Schools Geology Challenge has three sections: poster competition, presentation round, and quiz. Prizes are awarded for best poster, best presentation, and overall winner. This year, we were lucky enough listen to a presentation on the same topic by Professor Iain Stewart (University of Plymouth), who was also guest judge for the evening.
Our regular host, and the Challenge’s guiding light Paul Maliphant was unable to attend, so Gareth Farr (Chairman of the Southern Wales Regional Group) hosted, and Mr Daniels (retired Whitchurch geology teacher) paid a return visit to chair the quiz round.
Image right: Altrincham Boys' Grammar School were the winners of the North West regional Group heat.
Whitchurch’s line-up was strong, with Alex Darby, Bethan Healey, Aimee Meredith Smith, and Joe Macpherson on the quiz team, Sophie Moore, Nia Jones, and Jack McCormack as presentation team, and Julie Ostermeyer and Dylan Ward creating the poster; although all Whitchurch’s AS/A Level geology students were involved with the event in one way or another.
Whitchurch eventually overcame strong opposition to win both poster and presentation rounds, and were crowned overall winners for a record fourth time. The team therefore went forward to the national final, which was held at Burlington House in April.
So many friendships have formed between us and the other schools through our shared love of geology and there was not a dull moment in the entire evening.
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