Everything from pirate games to bioengineering

BISS and NAIS students attended the MIT-Nord Anglia STEAMFest hosted by the university in April. There, they interacted with and learned from renowned MIT academics through a program of forward-looking activities including bioengineering, coding and robotics.

I applied for the trip because I thought it sounded enjoyable and exciting and I would be able to learn about new things. I most enjoyed Pirate Training, where we got to make cannons, take part in fencing and archery and play capture the flag in an ice rink.

These are things I never thought I would do. Meeting the other students from NAE was great because they all seemed very similar to me and that made me feel a lot more confident about myself. It was also good fun to make new friends from around the world who I can continue to connect with through Nord Anglia’s Global Classroom. 

MIT was a huge university, if I went there I’d worry about getting lost but it looked like a nice place to live and learn. The same can be said for Harvard, which we also really enjoyed spending time at and learning about. If you’re lucky enough to be picked next year, be prepared to take part in a range of activities which will make you work hard both physically and mentally, and pack some comfortable shoes as the MIT and Harvard sites are big and we did a lot of walking in order to visit the different facilities!

— Iwan Jones, Year 7 student

When I first saw the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) festival being offered by BISS Puxi I thought it would be an awesome opportunity to see how MIT use their research to apply science to the real world, and I was excited about these subjects. I knew it would be a great chance to work with other students who shared similar interests and to speak to students studying at MIT.

The activity I enjoyed the most was Biobuilder. In this session we learnt about how, in the future, we will be able to take parts of cells, which perform a certain function, and build it to make a new cell.

The most interesting aspect is these cells can be designed so they can be controlled to complete certain tasks. We used different shapes and colors to represent these different functions, and built a cell that would kill only cancer cells. This is a lot harder in real life, as you would need to take the cell and find what the function is before fusing the different parts together.

It was really fun working with schools from around the world, and we all felt like one big school. It was very easy to make friends with everyone and we were very upset to leave each other on Friday.

This experience has inspired me to go to a school like MIT because of all the different fields in science and technology I can have the chance to experience if I studied there. Some advice I’d give to a student who plans to go next year is to really throw yourself into every activity and to make the most of this experience.

— Alison Ohene-Djan, Year 7 student

When I heard about the chance to go to MIT I was really excited and applied to attend as I was sure I would learn a lot and I might not get the chance to attend something like this again.

Once we arrived we met with the students from all of the other Nord Anglia schools; I enjoyed working with different people from different places because they all had other stories and ideas to share. The fun really started once we got to start on the STEAM activities, I can’t single out one particular activity because each one was a unique experience and fun in their own way, although I did enjoy being a pirate. This trip has inspired me to continue to work on areas of STEAM, I’ve had the interest of going to universities like MIT before, but this trip just made me even more motivated to work hard and be accepted into a place like MIT. The one piece of advice I would give to students who plan to attend next year’s trip is to not worry so much about remembering everything that will be taught to you, if you enjoy and focus on the activity, you will pick it up along the way.

— Liam Chan, Year 7 student

I applied for the trip because it is a once in a lifetime experience at one of the best universities in the world. Also, we would meet students from Nord Anglia schools around the world.

My favorite part was the 2.009 workshop, where in groups of ten we designed, and actually created, carnival games which could be used in real carnivals. Working with Professor David Wallace was a real highlight. I enjoyed collaborating with other schools because people from all across the globe worked together and came up with so many ideas to try and give the best possible answer.

The trip has definitely inspired me to attend MIT or universities like MIT because they have really good facilities and the professors teach lessons in a very exciting and interesting way. Advice that I would give students going next year would be: when stuck on a problem, look at things from a different perspective. The answer is usually there, it just needs more thought to reach it.

— Emma Tang, Year 7 student