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Friday 22 Sep 2023
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The Galess Team Shift Challenge Competition, Bali, Indonesia. September 2023

In September of the first week of the academic year four students: Yetta Yan, CiCi Chen, Bella Shen and Lydia Chen, traveled to Bali in Indonesia to take part in a global environmental challenge. This was organized by an organization called GALESS which stands for the Global Alliance of Leading Edge Schools for Sustainability.

The TiltShift Challenge is meant to enthuse students to undertake action to ‘catch their future’ through a process of contemplation, research and creativity. Students are asked to complete academic assignments or tasks and will then be presented with group challenges among various schools all over the world. We invite students to engage in the larger problems facing them, their school, their community and beyond, thus enticing them to extend their learning boundaries beyond their classroom-walls, with challenges that are invariably more complex.

Challenges&Partnerships

During the week the students had the opportunity to take part in various challenges focused on the theme of energy transition. Amoung other things they learned how petrol driven motorbikes can be converted to electric bikes; they met The Minister for Transport who was very eager to talk to them about the progress that the People's Republic of China has made towards the incorporation of electric vehicles into its infrastructure. He was very well informed about the PRC and its efforts, and he was impressed with the girl's responses to his questions. During the week they had many opportunities to work with students from all over the world.

The main focus however was a presentation competition where each school had to deliver a presentation on the theme of energy transition. Our students chose to present “China's energy transition prospects”. All of the entries from the various countries were of a very high standard and the very well-informed Engineering PhD judges from Udayana Univesity gave each team a very thorough Q&A session to test their knowledge and their research.

The bar was set very high, and I was delighted to see our girls thrive in the cauldron of the competition. Their presentation was outstanding in terms of its content, style and use of up to the minute data, and their delivery was slick and professional. They excelled at the Q&A session impressing the judges with their knowledge on renewable energy and on China’s intention to incorporate nuclear as part of its transition. Each girl contributed and all of their contributions were of the highest standard.

Achievements&Honors

Coach Peter Maddison
Biology Teacher

Their conclusion, which I think was the most impressive part the competition, was that China should not as it were, “put all of its eggs in one basket” regarding energy transition, and should aim for a very diverse energy grid where the source of electrical power comes from a range of non-fossil options. They argued that considering the facts that China has a very diverse climate and geography the availability of various renewables will make it a global leader in wind energy, solar energy, nuclear and hydropower and has already made great strides towards these goals. They accepted, like China also has, that although China is only 26th in CO2 production per capita it is nonetheless the world's largest producer of CO2 and therefore must acknowledge its responsibility to the rest of the world. The other teams and the judges were very impressed by this viewpoint.

After hearing eleven excellent presentations from seven different countries from all over the world including the USA, Brazil, Spain, Indonesia and Vietnam the judges decided that our teams was the best and they were rewarded First Place Certificates for their outstanding contribution.

Special thanks go to the parents of the four students who’s support throughout the programme has been exceptional, Mrs. Ann Liu from the Finance Office who organized flights and transport, Mr. Brendan Law, Mr. Richard Nuns and Mrs. Fiona You for various advice and especially Mrs. Ye HongYun Senior Partner at Dentons Law Firm Wuxi who acted as a “living library” regarding China’s emission laws and regulations.