House Battle

On the 21st and 22nd of September, 8th through 10th grade students celebrated STEM week by participating in a grand series of intellectual and physical tasks devised by the senior graduating class of 2023.

The first to participate were the 8th and 9th graders, with their respective houses. The next day was the 10th and 11th graders turn. The activities were initiated on both days after 9:45am. The different grades gathered at the main entrance to begin the organization. This year´s senior president, Rebeca Paz, briefly explained how the dynamics would develop and the goals.

The classes were unified into four houses in honor of notable STEM leaders. For math, there was House Pythagoras (blue); in physics, there was House Oppenheimer (red); in biology, there was House Darwin (yellow); and lastly, chemistry was represented by House Heisenberg (green). Inside each of the houses, they had to divide themselves into small groups of four students in order to accomplish as many tasks as possible. The house that collected the most token points would win STEM Day. The route had a total of 12 stations; the following were:

1. Flip the cup: Students in a row had to flip 5 cups; once all the cups had been flipped, the team to finish first answered a question.

2. Carry a Lemon: A representative from each team had to carry a spoon in their mouth with a lemon on top across some obstacles; the first to finish without dropping the lemon won.

3. Tug of War: Two teams gathered to compete with their strength. A rope was driven and both teams had to pull and see who was able to tug the whole rope into their side.

4. Jenga: The moment to pay attention, two teams face each other in a classic game of Jenga with a little twist: A question is thrown into the air, and the first team to answer wins the security of not drawing a Jenga tile while the other team maneuvers so that the tower does not fall.

5. Pie in the Face: The teams had to compete in different rounds to test their general knowledge. A representative for each round would compete to try and answer the question; if they were wrong, they would suffer a pie in the face.

6. Lewis Structure: A representative per round was given a Lewis Structure; after this, they had to turn 10 times and run over to a table with gummies that represented elements and toothpicks. The first to properly finish won.

7. Don't Spill: It was time to trust your team. One member had to blindfold and trust his team's instructions to fill a glass with water.

8. Jeopardy: The teams tested their knowledge by answering the Jeopardy of Mathematics, Science, Physics, and Chemistry. The first team to reach 1500 won.

9. Heads Up: One person on the team puts on a headband with a card on his forehead, which he could not see. His teammates figured out how to make the person guess what the card contained.

10. Sack-race: Two teams competed with their skills of being able to jump in a bag as fast as possible, having to go around and then take over. The first team to complete the circuit took the token.

11. Order Body Parts: Once again, it was time to trust your team while they help you place different parts of the human anatomy; the closest ones and the first to finish took the victory.

Once you won a token, you ran to deposit it at the token station so that your team could move forward with the points to win.

By the middle of the day, the house of Heisenberg (green) had taken the lead by a long shot, and it was thought that they were going to win. But the day took an unexpected turn when Oppenheimer won the first day, with Darwin taking lead the second day.