Munkka osallistui Tiedeolympialaisiin jo kahdettatoista kertaa. Tällä kertaa ne järjestettiin Pietarissa. Munkan delegaatioon kuului yhteensä 18 opiskelijaa kaikilta lukion vuosiasteilta. Kilpailut käytiin matematiikassa, fysiikassa ja kemiassa. Menestystä saatiin erityisesti matematiikassa, jossa palkintosijan saavuttivat Aaro Niini (matematiikka, 2. sija, 2. vuosiaste), Henrik Aalto (matematiikka, 3. sija, 1. vuosiaste) ja Aaro Parkkinen (matematiikka, 3. sija, 3. vuosiaste). Seuraavan kerran kisataan Vilnassa, Liettuassa, syksyllä 2020. MT
The Science Olympiad 2019
Wednesday November 13
We all woke up in the morning waiting for our trip. We packed our last stuff and assembled at the train station. The train journey was pleasant. We had a chance to do last minute preparation for the contest.
From the train station we got on exciting little buses that took us to the school. We also got stuck in St Petersburg’s traffic which we later experienced many more times. At the school we ate lunch and got a historical tour around the school. We learned that the school was founded in 1805.
After the tour we had free time after which we had an opening ceremony that was held in the assembly hall. Everyone was there, the students and the teachers from all the participating schools. The hosts started the ceremony. The choir sang the national anthems of all the participating countries, the head mistress held a speech and the traditional candles were lit.
The host families retrieved us from the school after the opening ceremony. The families were hospitable, and the home accommodation was considered positive by all. Absolutely a unique experience.
Thursday November 14th
The day of the competition. The reason why we came here. The three and a half-hour train trip and the opening ceremony of the previous day were now behind us and everyone was looking forward to the competition. We arrived at the school at half past nine which meant that we had only a half-hour to prepare for the puzzles the competition would offer. When the competition started at 10 am most of us were already getting nervous about our performances in the following three hours. And as we would soon find out, it was not without reason. The questions were hard enough so most of us had to leave at least a few questions unanswered despite the generous three hours we were given. Despite the toughness of the questions everyone fought hard until the end and even made some key realizations in the very last minutes of the competition. After the competition we had lunch and then some free time: some of us decided to get more familiar with the magnificent building complex of the school while others were keen on getting to know the city of St. Petersburg better. We returned to the school by half past three so that we would have time to gather all our belongings and finish up smaller businesses before attending the bus tour around the city. The bus left at half past four and with us were a guide and some volunteers from the school. The tour was two hours long and during that time we saw numerous beautiful attractions, such as the Winter Palace, designed by the Italian-born Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, a statue depicting Peter the Great, the Bronze Horseman, the twenty-acre Palace Square, and the 161-year-old Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. We also stopped and got a chance to walk around some of the attractions, such as an old Soviet era ship. After the tour, we – the competitors as well as the volunteers from the school – got to spend the rest of the evening at a disco, where some danced to Russian electronic music while others just conversed and got to know each other better.
The Grand Hall where the competition was held and a Soviet era ship.
Friday November 15th
The last day of our trip was very exciting because of the closing ceremony. We left our lovely host families early in the morning and then at school we went to the magnificent assembly hall where the awards were given to the ones that had succeeded in the tests of physics, mathematics and chemistry. Three students in mathematics managed to get medals. We had a tea break where we had Russian food and we had a change to interact with the Swedish students who were very nice. Always the best part of the competitions is to make new friends from other countries. Then we left the school to buy some souvenirs before leaving for the train station. It was a fun trip. Furthermore, these international science competitions always add more motivation for studying sciences.