SCOOPING first place in the recently held National Jets quiz for junior category as well as Science Olympiads was both an overwhelming and challenging experience for me. Before the beginning of such an event, it is rare for one to feel happy and be calm. My friend, Blessing Kalunga and I were selected to represent the province at the national level after we won the provincial competition. Both of us are from St Mary’s Secondary School in Lusaka and we are in the same grade nine class. This year’s jets fair was held at Ndola National Technical High School from 10th to 15th August 2014.
The participants first lodged at David Kaunda National Technical High School before departure for Ndola. This was to enable students study and polish up their projects. We left Lusaka about 09:00 hours. At about 13:25 hours, the bus stopped in Kabwe so that everyone could buy food. The journey from Kabwe to Ndola was quite long. When we finally reached Ndola, the bus driver could not locate the place because the sign post leading to the school was removed by a team of workers who were renovating the road to the school.
On Monday, in the morning, we held a march past in town to announce the opening of the fair. The afternoon was set aside for the Olympiads contest for all pupils. However, the programme started late.
I walked into the room feeling scared. When boys came in, I felt even more scared. I thought I was going to be the only girl. But soon after that, two girls walked in.
We were given the question paper. It was not hard although a few questions were challenging. After studying almost half of the biology text book, I thought I was ready for anything.
However, this was not the case as most of the questions were in the grade eight and nine syllabus. The paper was thick and we had to write it for three hours. When I finished and certain that I had answered all the questions, I gladly walked out of the room only to find my father waiting for me outside. He was doing some work in Ndola and he decided to see me before he left for Luanshya. Though I wanted to sleep, I was happy to see him. Tuesday was the day for the quiz. Though it started late, we got a lot of support from our teachers during the quiz. We did not start out well because we got more than half of the questions we picked wrong. Even though others lost hope, we did not.
During the lunch break, my friend and I prayed. We were happy we did not get kicked out in the first half despite our bad start. During the second round, the organisers made drastic changes to speed up the exercise. Suddenly we picked up and the province which was doing well ended up being kicked out. Now we were answering all the questions and they were giving the wrong answers. Even though it is not good to feel happy when others are failing, I was happy. That was a competition and we did not want to lose.
During the third and final round, tables turned. We were able to beat the other provinces and were safely in the lead. We smiled each time we looked at the score sheet to see how much we had beaten them. When we finished the quiz, everyone was so happy that they hugged us, gave us money and even took pictures with us.
When the results were finally announced at noon on Thursday, I was so happy to know that I had gotten first place in Olympiads. Because Lusaka province had scooped a lot of prizes in all the fields, we came out the overall best province.
In conclusion, I would like to encourage people not to forget God in whatever they do and not to look down on girls because we all have our own capabilities.
By Luyando Konayuma, Grade 9, St. Mary’s Secondary School, Lusaka.
(First published in Zambian Daily Mail online, July 2014)
The participants first lodged at David Kaunda National Technical High School before departure for Ndola. This was to enable students study and polish up their projects. We left Lusaka about 09:00 hours. At about 13:25 hours, the bus stopped in Kabwe so that everyone could buy food. The journey from Kabwe to Ndola was quite long. When we finally reached Ndola, the bus driver could not locate the place because the sign post leading to the school was removed by a team of workers who were renovating the road to the school.
On Monday, in the morning, we held a march past in town to announce the opening of the fair. The afternoon was set aside for the Olympiads contest for all pupils. However, the programme started late.
I walked into the room feeling scared. When boys came in, I felt even more scared. I thought I was going to be the only girl. But soon after that, two girls walked in.
We were given the question paper. It was not hard although a few questions were challenging. After studying almost half of the biology text book, I thought I was ready for anything.
However, this was not the case as most of the questions were in the grade eight and nine syllabus. The paper was thick and we had to write it for three hours. When I finished and certain that I had answered all the questions, I gladly walked out of the room only to find my father waiting for me outside. He was doing some work in Ndola and he decided to see me before he left for Luanshya. Though I wanted to sleep, I was happy to see him. Tuesday was the day for the quiz. Though it started late, we got a lot of support from our teachers during the quiz. We did not start out well because we got more than half of the questions we picked wrong. Even though others lost hope, we did not.
During the lunch break, my friend and I prayed. We were happy we did not get kicked out in the first half despite our bad start. During the second round, the organisers made drastic changes to speed up the exercise. Suddenly we picked up and the province which was doing well ended up being kicked out. Now we were answering all the questions and they were giving the wrong answers. Even though it is not good to feel happy when others are failing, I was happy. That was a competition and we did not want to lose.
During the third and final round, tables turned. We were able to beat the other provinces and were safely in the lead. We smiled each time we looked at the score sheet to see how much we had beaten them. When we finished the quiz, everyone was so happy that they hugged us, gave us money and even took pictures with us.
When the results were finally announced at noon on Thursday, I was so happy to know that I had gotten first place in Olympiads. Because Lusaka province had scooped a lot of prizes in all the fields, we came out the overall best province.
In conclusion, I would like to encourage people not to forget God in whatever they do and not to look down on girls because we all have our own capabilities.
By Luyando Konayuma, Grade 9, St. Mary’s Secondary School, Lusaka.
(First published in Zambian Daily Mail online, July 2014)
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