IVY Students Won Second Prize at the 2017 “China Youth Space Maker Olympic Games”

The national final of China’s 2017 Youth Space Maker Olympic Games was held atBeijing Institute of Technology. 45 finalist teams from across China were inattendance. After fierce competition of projects such as “setting up the moonbase” and “satellite integration and launch”, Weihai IVY International School,as one of only five representatives from the Middle School category fromShandong Province, reached the national finals and won second prize.

The China Youth Space Maker Olympic Games formally started on April 24, which isone of the most important events in Chinese aerospace science and technologyeducation alliance, and also one in a series of “China Youth Maker Olympic Games”.

Under the guidance of the China National Space Administration and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Chinese Education Society and ChineseSociety of Astronautics hosted the competition, with the assistance of the China Aerospace Science and Technology International Exchange Center and China Education Institute of Youth Innovative Thinking Education Research Center. Itaimed to popularize aerospace knowledge, promote aerospace culture, expandaerospace spirit, and inspire the youth to advocate science, explore theunknown and dare to innovate. It helped the country to improve the scientificquality of its young people and to cultivate the successors of the aerospaceindustry.

The competition achieved a rocket launch record of 1200 meters in the middle schoolstudent category. Students were divided into Primary School Groups and MiddleSchool Groups in the final competition. The task for the Middle School Groupwas to make the rocket satellite payload bay with a time limit and launch atPinggu launch site after being tested by the experts. After the satellite androcket separated at the height of 1200 meters, students could receive andprocess the payload data. This is the first time that students had launched a1200 meters sounding rocket in China.

From the preliminary contest to the final, IVY students united as one, studied every detail carefully, revised and optimized the program through practice and eventually entered the final. During the final competition, students worked together cultivating an innovative idea and finally standing out by winning thenational second prize.

Throughout this competition, students not only improved their practical ability but alsorealized that the aerospace industry needed cross-integration ofmulti-disciplinary knowledge.

Our thinking and innovation ability determine if we can be successful. True scienceis not just studied in books, but a combination of wisdom and experimentation.It needs a foundation of solid theory and abundant data to support it.

The competition also provided a chance for the IVY students to communicate withother teams from across China. Students not only gained the certificate ofhonor but also learned how to cooperate well within a team, keep calm to makethe right decision under high pressure, insist on their dreams and never giveup!