The main focus of the ISEF event is Judging Day on Wednesday. Everything the team has done since being selected in December, has been to prepare them for this one day. Monday, of all days, is the major preparation day for judging. The AUSSEF team started the day by attending a Symposium called “Judging at Regeneron ISEF”, in which members of the ISEF Judging Advisory Committee talked about Grand Awards Judging at Regeneron ISEF. They talked about all aspects of the judging experience: the schedule for judging day, the Judging Criteria, the types of judges at ISEF, and the people and resources available to support the students. This was a very valuable experience.
We then split into two groups, where one group continued with the judging preparation, while the other group did a fun activity which this year was a 2 hour Segway Tour along the Rivers and Bridges of Columbus. The idea after lunch was to swap around our activities, but predicted afternoon rain caused the postponement of the second group’s Segway Tour until Thursday afternoon so they joined the other group in our specialised judging preparation. Each of our students were given the opportunity to have a practice judging interview in front of their project display, with the chaperones, accompanying adults and the other ISEF finalists asking them questions. This went extremely well, with all students answering the plethora of questions they received with confidence. In Naman’s practice session, he also had other interested people join in and ask some tough questions. In summary, they are very well prepared.
Earlier, while the group were doing the Segway Tour, the other group attended another Symposium entitled, ” Understanding Creativity and Impact at ISEF”. This session was very valuable because it opened up to us what Grand Awards judges are looking for when they have to score the 20% creativity element in their judging rubric. They highlighted that Grand Award judges this year have been instructed to measure Creativity by evaluating the imagination and inventiveness of a project as well as the potential impact and new possibilities and alternatives that the project opens up.
Monday, finished with the Opening Ceremony which was extra special this year as ISEF is celebrating their 75th Anniversary. To kick off the event, the Ohio State University Band entertained the 3000 strong audience with a number of musical pieces. We had speeches from Maya Ajmera (President & CEO, Society for Science) and George Yancopoulos (President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron), followed by a Guest Panel Discussion. The highlight of the night was the International Shout-Out which featured the Australian team (1:05:48 on the above link) and New Zealand (1:11:42).
Note: I just came across this instagram post that features our two teams on the front page https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJkPdeHzkq_/