It’s been a big week for Kolbe’s Gifted and Talented students. In a week that saw all the Year 7s tested for GATE entry, there were also back to back competitions for some of the current Year 8 and 9 students.
On Wednesday, fourteen Year 9s threw themselves into some of the most spine-tingling linguistic challenges the ALU and Australia’s leading universities could muster, as they competed in OzCLO (Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad). They had to collaborate in teams, using all of their considerable critical thinking and pattern-finding skills to decipher remote and esoteric languages, trying to crack the code of Yurakaré (Bolivian), Ancient Coptic (Egyptian) and the endangered Tariana (Brazil) to name a few.
Students were scribbling on the whiteboards and discussing hypotheses in excited tones throughout the online contest. There was only the occasional mini-mental breakdown at the exceedingly difficult tasks. They were still buzzing as the two hour competition came to an end and couldn’t believe how quickly the time went. “When do we find out the results?!” Was demanded by several team members. Stay tuned. Well done OzCLO 2024 teams!
The very next day saw eight sleepy Year 8s disembark Kolbe for a tremulous bus ride to UWA, so they could compete in this year’s da Vinci Decathlon. The Kolbe da Vinci team consisting of eight of our brightest Year 8s competed against over 400 students from schools all across Perth. The Decathlon required all of the team’s considerable academic prowess. They had to tackle Maths, Science, Engineering, Cartography, Art & Poetry, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Code-breaking and Legacy challenges. I’m exhausted just listing them all!
During the lunch break we did a quick tour of the campus. The students were enthralled by the majestic beauty of UWA’s Sunken Garden, vibrant peacocks perched in alcoves of the limestone buildings and some of UWA’s classical architecture that pays homage to Oxford University (where the International da Vinci happens to take place later this year), including the awe-inspiring Winthrop Hall where the competition floor was set up.
Our students worked tirelessly all day, displaying real perspicacity and representing the College commendably. Well done Year 8s!
As a testing week comes to a close, I can’t help but feel very proud of our GATE students’ effort, gumption and tenacity, and am excited for what’s to come next.
