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9 action packed events at Synchronize 2018

I, unlike most participants here at Synchronize 2018 am representing my school for the first time and it has been quite an interesting experience. For starters our bus driver got confused with which school to go to and dropped us at the wrong place; we then had to walk all the way here, not the best start for the day but okay... 

After a while of waiting, the inaugural service started, and boy oh boy was I surprised! The chief guest Ms. Latha and Reverend P.K Samuel along with the guest of honour, lit the candle followed by the chief guest's speech and then the service began. The Cotton's band performed the synchronize theme in complete rock band style and we were all on our feet clapping along to the music. I could feel my heart beat to the sound of the drums; I know it sounds cheesy but it’s true! I could feel my bones rattle! 

Announcements were made and the prize distribution for the previous years’ IT head and science head was held right before the exciting part- the dance performance! I paid focused on watching them perform and paid full attention. The dancers all lined up behind one guy and let him have his time, like a dance battle. Another dancer stepped up and showed off his dance skills, then everyone joined him when the music changed. They looked really cool dancing in the fog.  

The video this year for synchronize was so fun to watch. It had clips from movies, shows and video games, it was just amazing. My heart kind of dropped when the clip for bloodworks came up, it was really creepy but intriguing at the same time. The best part though, was the laser show. I honestly didn't know what a laser show was but then once it started I couldn't stop squealing from excitement. There was light, fog, loud music and it just felt like I was being transported into a different realm! Then everything paused and I thought it was over but, it just got louder and better after that and in the end they projected the Synchronize logo on the ceiling; a great way to end the spectacular show. Ms. Latha was called on stage again to officially begin Synchronize , 2018. 

TERRA

Terra is an environmental based event for younger students dissimilar to the rest of the events that mostly cater to students above grade 9. This event is for children from grades 6 to 8 and it aims to instill in them an understanding of being a part of science and IT events. There were 8 teams and 24 participants. We got to witness the first round which was a debate about 'Utilization of Conventional Fuels for Transport.' There were 5 rounds and they were all crisis based. The second round had children talk about various problems and how the interact club would deal with them, about corruption in our country and various other issues. Terra is one of the few events solely for the development of young minds in small ways. 

QUAD DAMAGE P.C

Quad damage PC is an event where multiple participants play a computer game decided by the judges. There were 7 rounds and the one who wins all the rounds wins it all.

The event started off with 40 teams but by the time we got there only 30 were left. The participants were all from grades 9-12. The game chosen by the judges was counter strike. The room was full of guys with head phones on, completely focused on their screens, unfazed by our presence, like it was all that mattered.

BATTLE OF TWEETS

The Battle of Tweets sounds like a simple event but it’s not, trust me. The participants were shown a 2 minute long video about technology and science. They then had to do the job of a journalist and had to tweet about it. The judges judged their tweet on the basis of humor, creativity and quality. There were 2 rounds and 5 teams consisting a total of 17 participants and like any other battle the best one was picked and declared the winner.

BLOODWORK

Bloodwork would probably have to be the most creepiest of events. It was a test for the participant to use their skills and intuition in forensic science, criminology and medical biology. There were 64 teams consisting of 128 participants in total. The first round was a questionnaire with multiple choice questions and after this the number of teams left were only 25 out of which 20 teams were based on their answers and the other 5 were wildcard entries. The event actually unfolds in a very interesting way in the second round, one of the event heads had stolen a major clue and was caught red handed. The participants had to find the event head and retrieve the clue which is one step required to find the dead body and the murderer. Just listening to it makes me shudder.

E-TRON

This event tested the electronic and circuit building skills of the participants. The turnout for E-tron was low, having only 7 teams but the competition was high. There was a question and answer round and then a circuit building round. Rounds 3 to 5 were being judged by professional engineers. I honestly don’t understand the whole electronic thing but I know for sure that it is super complicated. 

GENESIS

Genesis was a bio related event. It conducted 3 rounds on the first day; round 1 was a quiz, round 2 was a  pictionary round and round 3 was scientific anomalies. Day 2 had the last round. The participants were being judged on every aspect and field of biology and though it looks really boring to me it seemed like they were all having fun. The event had 26 teams on day one but after elimination 18 teams had made it to day two.

QUEST 

So Quest was basically a treasure hunt! In the event each team got codes to decipher and they had to go around the whole school looking for clues to find the treasure. The whole school campus covers a huge area and they surely would’ve had to do a lot of running around. I kind of feel bad for them but, you got to do what you got to do. They had a total of 5 rounds and 49 teams but on day two they narrowed it down to only 27 teams. The first round was the preliminary round, rounds 2 and 3 were elimination rounds. The last 2 rounds had only 8 teams left hunting for the treasure.  

EVENT X 

I thought that event X had something to do with the roman numeral “X” standing for the number 10 but, it was far from it. Event X was a mystery event that involves logic and problem solving skills. There were 24 teams but only 10 made it to day two. The event consisted of 3 rounds. On day one, the teams had to solve logical questions; in round 2 they solved a puzzle and the last round was solely mystery based and was the elimination round. 

PROTIUM

Are you made of copper and tellurium ? Cause you’re Cu Te ! (Forgive me. I couldn’t help myself.)

This was like one of those science fiction movies where people with glasses and lab coats work with chemicals. The event consisted of 6 rounds, 2 of which were held on day two. After the process of eliminating, they were left with 14 teams out of 22 teams from the first day. Round one was a questionnaire round, in round two, the teams of 3 participants each had to analyse and identify the 3 salts given to them, and in round three the teams had to perform vinegar titration and the fourth round was a questionnaire after which the elimination rounds started. 

Synchronize 2018 was a little bit of an overwhelming experience for me. I feel like the events held were so well thought out and organized. With this being my first time at an inter-school event it was also my first time writing a blog. This was probably also the first time I saw so many students at one gathering; my claustrophobia almost overpowered my excitement.. almost! I enjoyed my two days here a lot actually and wish to be back next year to experience it all again.

Contributors

Andrea Mathai

Rohan Rajesh

Sumanth Samuel 

School - Clarence High School