Stepping out of your comfort zone to see what you can do!
“Protecting the environment? Deakin and IU! Oh I have to create a group and then register for the competition right away.”
This was the first time I had dared to actively participate in a global extracurricular activity like this. Born, raised in a small town and attended a non-specialized high school, it seems that in the 10th grade, I was just hanging around in the triangle of school – home – sub-school (extra classes) without realizing it and not knowing how many more interesting things were on the other side of that triangle. Luckily, by the 11th grade, I was able to break the wall, step out and reach the first destination of the journey – the Youth Environmentalist Challenge (YEC) 2021!
Find out more about the competition here: Youth Environmentalist Challenge YEC
We are Youngnation!
The first thing we needed to do was to form a group of 4-5 members and create a name for the team. To me, this was quite similar to when solving a jigsaw puzzle, we must know the characteristics of the pieces in order to put them together to solve the puzzle. Similarly when forming a group, I had to consider the strengths or weaknesses of the people around me to form a team, moreover personality was also another aspect to consider! And I was very lucky to have my cute and active friends from class 11/2 at that time, Khanh Chi, An Minh, Viet Tien – Thank you everyone for joining the team Youngnation.
Why Youngnation? There are two sides here, Young- Youth and Nation- Nation. Firstly, because we belong to the GenZ generation, young people who are dynamic and always want to contribute more to the community, especially the environmental aspect when the economy and industry are developing like a storm. Secondly, Nation here refers to a world, a generation of young people in general – people who have the same heart and thoughts as us. Youngnation means a nation where young people always want to bring better values to society.
How did we prepare for Round 1
The product for round 1 that we had to complete was a short video of 10-15 minutes in English, presenting environmental problems and ideas and solutions to solve that problem.
But first, we needed a leader in order to create a common voice for the whole team, right? And the appointed leader this time was… me, Nhi Bui! Honestly, I was very grateful to the other 3 members for trusting me and giving me this responsibility.
As a leader, I have to listen to all the opinions of the members to come up with a plan and distribute the work appropriately. At the same time, I was the only person in the team with a quite good command of English, so I was also in charge of the presentation section as well as the translator for other members when working with the professors and students at Deakin university.
At first, we had a lot of difficulties because of our studies, especially during this time (November 5, 2021), we were still preparing for the final exam of the 1st term. Remember the first Workshop – Framing the research question, we listened to the lecture while wearing headphones to attend the workshop of the professors on Zoom!
Although it was a bit difficult, the whole team tried our best to cooperate and work together. When it comes to the topic of Environment, we were all quite interested in alternative energy. Living in the Central part of Vietnam, with the hot sun has become a feature, it must be said that every household always has to pay for expensive electricity bills, plus the electricity cut negatively affecting our daily life. Therefore, Youngnation decided to choose a solar generator as a solution for the above situation. To actually complete the project, each person in the team was responsible for each different area. An Minh and Viet Tien were the two friends who looked at the scientific and practical aspects of the problem and found ways to manufacture and assemble machines. While I and Khanh Chi would be the ones to organize that data and create the video. This process, we say, is both fun and tiring at the same time!
Watch our video for round 1 here: YEC 2021 – YOUNGNATION
The Semi-final of the challenge
With the Semi-final, we continued to be guided to perfect the sample product or idea and to present it to the judges. At this point, the team needed to really dig deep and understand the scientific background of the problem – solar energy, how the machine works, slide design for the presentation, and presentation layout. And once again we faced the challenge. The time to prepare is in February-March, around the second midterm exam and for me was also the time to prepare for the advanced placement exam. In the first 2 weeks we didn’t make any progress and missed the deadlines of our schedule.
As a leader, I had to transform the team and we decided to create a specific new plan in line with the busy school schedule. The members would have to actively work separately and discuss with each other later to make final decisions from data analysis to the design of the generator and presentations. With our efforts, we finally received praise for our progress in Workshop 4 with the surprise from the mentors. All were ready for Saigon!
Watch our presentation at round 2 here! (Timeline 4:22:00)
Final result and our smile
Although in the end, Youngnation couldn’t make it to the Finals, it was indeed a memorable experience for me and my friends when we got to work and exchange ideas directly with professors, PhDs, and students from all over the world. We also received Deakin’s as well as IU’s enthusiastic support throughout the journey. We also admired and learned a lot from other teams too, such as Eco Fighters’ Bodhi Bamboo Brush.
For me, I had a chance to challenge myself and enhance my leadership. Now, I am also more confident when it comes to time-management. Not only that, that was the first time I had been able to bring the image of Vietnamese students closer to the world, bringing the spirit of enthusiasm and dynamism to other young people.
We will always love the environment!
Be the twinkling stars,
Nhi Bui
hi nhi,