Just making it to the national round of the “Jugend forscht” competition is something special in itself. That’s quite an achievement! Our “MINTies”—Steinmühle boarding students Fabian Sotonica, Luis Gerloni, and Clara Steiner—have actually done just that. All three attend our boarding school as part of the plus-MINT program. Fabian Sotonica looks back on this amazing event from the second semester. What does he wish for? You get three guesses…
It’s an impressive sight as you ride the escalator down into the exhibition hall: a bustling crowd of young researchers, parents, and chaperones—107 projects with 175 participants. Our booth was located a little further back in the Earth and Spatial Sciences section, number 51. Along the way, you could already see some of the other projects, which, thanks to their uniqueness, size, or significance, made it clear that this was where the competition’s finals were taking place.
We had until the afternoon to travel there and set up. That turned out to be necessary, since it turned out that our Raspberry Pi (microcomputer)—the “brain” of our measurement platform—had been damaged and was no longer working (properly). Fortunately, we were able to turn to the “Jupas” (young researcher mentors), who had accompanied us throughout the four days. Thanks to them, we were able to borrow one of the Raspberry Pis from the Maker Lab there. Their extensive help with all our questions and needs was an unexpected but wonderful introduction to Experimenta, the science center in Heilbronn.
After that, we checked into our rooms at the youth hostel—where we were staying—or rather, at the hotel, though there wasn’t really any difference in quality between the two. On the way to the hostel, we were able to enjoy the beautiful view of the green banks of the Neckar. The evening concluded with a delicious dinner at Experimenta, as well as workshops and presentations at the “Science Dome” on topics such as the Apollo 13 mission.
Project Presentation in No Time
On the second day, things got serious, as the jury interviews were scheduled following a brief briefing (which took place every morning). Each project had two separate jury teams, to whom they had to present their project in 5 minutes before moving on to a 25-minute interview. Outside of these sessions, participants could visit the Experimenta exhibition or relax in the Jufo Lounge. The evening was spent at Campus Founders, where a workshop on starting a startup was presented after dinner.
Search for a spot for the live demo
On Saturday, we had the opportunity to speak with juries from other fields—if they were interested—to prepare our booth for the public, or to evaluate the other projects. In addition to the scheduled photo shoot for our booth, however, we spent a good portion of the time looking for a suitable spot on the Neckar River where we could launch our platform for a live demonstration. But we were unsuccessful: heavy rain and high water levels blocked the few accessible points. At noon, we walked to the “Harmonie” event hall, where the awards ceremony would take place on Sunday. There, we had lunch and went over the ceremony’s schedule.
After we returned, the public exhibition began, and a surprisingly large number of alumni—that is, former participants—took part. During the exhibition, we were able to get brief feedback from our judges at specific times.
After a lively, interesting, but also exhausting exchange with the visitors, we took buses to “RedBlue,” an InterSport event hall where the special awards ceremony took place. Interwoven with the various courses of the meal and the entertainment (the drum group “Bounce”), groups of projects and award presenters were called to the stage. About halfway through, it was our turn: “Award for Original Work in the Field of Geosciences,” sponsored by the German Geological Society – Geological Association.
Afterward, the dance floor opened up and the evening ended with a party, while a regular shuttle service took people back to their accommodations either earlier or, at the latest, by 2 a.m.
Great New Friends
Sunday was the shortest day: another exhibition was held for the (honored) guests of the awards ceremony to give them a chance to get acquainted before the ceremony began.
While the winners in each category from 5th to 2nd place were announced all at once, the national champions were presented individually on stage. Each also received an impressive laudatory speech from the jury. The event also featured a variety of entertainment: European beatboxing champion “Robeat” and “Prof. Bubbles” with his soap bubble tricks provided plenty of variety.
Of course, at the end, we had to take down the booths again. It was a truly wonderful experience, one that involved meeting many great people at all levels and in all areas. I hope and look forward to experiencing this level of competition again.
As a team, we would like to once again express our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved for their extensive and active support, as we could not have carried out this project without their help!
Fabian Sotonica
