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Grade 9: High School Life Launch Lesson - The Team-Building Contest

September 7, 2020

On September 3rd, the final and, arguably, the most exciting activity of the “High School Launch Lesson” finally came: the Grade Team-Building Contest. At one o’clock in the afternoon, the twelve classes assembled within the indoor basketball court. Unique, colorful student-made flags were waved in the air as the classes lined up in their assigned positions.

During the opening “ceremony”, all homerooms gave a small performance and most classes chose to dance. Each performance had a strong effect over the audience – some classes used humor, while other classes focused on the dance’s aesthetics and visual appeal. After all homerooms had given their presentations, the students moved to the bleachers and waited for the games to begin.

The first game was the balloon relay. A total of six participants lined up to pass a balloon to the next person by carrying it between the head and the shoulder. After the last person in line ran around a cone with the balloon, it was passed back to the first person. Students weren’t allowed to touch the balloon with their hands and had to ensure the balloon did not touch the ground. The second game was “Minesweeper”. Five students were blindfolded and lined up. Everyone’s hands were on the shoulders of the preceding person. One student acted as the guide, and they guided their teammates through a random array of cones – the “mines” – as quickly as possible. The guide is not allowed to use any words that may indicate a direction, and penalties are given when rules are bent. The last game was “Hot Wheels”. Students needed to use newspaper to make a long strip, with tape as the only adhering agent. The strip’s two ends would then be taped together to create a large wheel. Ten students were required to stand inside the wheel and walk across the basketball court without stepping on the wooden floor, and only on the newspaper.

All the students from each class participated in at least one activity, and everyone tried his or her best. Classes 9(12), 9(1), and 9(5) received the third prize for the overall scores; classes 9(9) and 9(7) got the second prize; and 9(10) received the first prize. However, everyone was the winner – the value of the games lies in the lessons learned, friendships gained, and happiness generated during the process of the activities. The collaboration that took place between the students was the real prizes of the day.

(Written by Elizabeth Yu Edited by Maureen Wu Pictures by Hui Liao, Alex Xue, Ray Zhou Supervised by Hazel Gu)