STEAM Festival

The STEAM festival hosted by Beau Soleil in Switzerland was a very interesting and enjoyable event, where 15 students from our school had the opportunity to apply and showcase their wide range of skills in different challenges.

On the first day, we started by visiting Beau Soleil boarding school, where we had an introductory assembly. Then, the 15 students were split into different groups, and while one half of all the groups built sledges, the other half built rockets. Both were tested on the second day. The sledge building was a fun team-building activity that required us to be creative and think outside the box, as there wasn't an infinite number of materials and resources the groups could use. While the rocket building was a calmer and more straightforward activity, it is needless to say, that the activity came with many challenges to tackle through excellent teamwork. In the evening, some representatives of the EPFL Xplore team held a presentation about space exploration using rovers.

On the second day, in the morning, the students visited different workshops, such as building catapults, designing F1 cars, making slime, building rockets, and making cosmetics, among others. In the afternoon, we went to a sledge piste and launched our rockets into the infinite sky, and tested our sledges on a snowy mountain with a beautiful view of snowy mountains in the background. We also had the chance to try different aspects of biathlon. We probably enjoyed the shooting part the most. The day nicely ended with a tasty BBQ on the hillside.

On the third day, the teams had to create a large information board summarizing all activities, results, skills used, and everything we learned through the first two days. This was quite a tough activity, as there was a lot to display, and it required real team effort. Then, in a sort of expo fashion, the teams had to discuss their projects with members of the audience who came to visit the expo. In the afternoon, most students had the amazing opportunity to go skiing in the Swiss Alps. Led by great student instructors and with breathtaking views in the background, we felt blessed to have the experience of skiing in the Swiss Alps. Some students who couldn’t go skiing had the rare opportunity to visit a few lessons at Beau Soleil.

Overall, the trip was fantastic and highly enjoyable. We would like to thank the two teachers accompanying us on this trip, Mrs. Marion and Mr. Puskás.

Tristan Ford & Mate Kiss