Teamwork; Is Working Together The Right Way?

In a school, UWCSEA East, one of the best in the world, Outdoor Education is one of the 5 elements in the UWCSEA Movement. OEL (Outdoor Education Learning), is a class that students get for a third of a year in Grade 7. Last year, MNi had an exciting event, Crate Stacking. It was blatantly obvious how excited everyone was. The purpose of Crate Stacking, as the teachers have said, is to show teambuilding to the students in a fun way.

As the fun and hilarious event went on, the class had definitely bonded way more than they would have done without the Crate Stacking. This reporter had asked a student who did not have the opportunity to climb the Crates about the experience. He replied “Even though we didn’t get the opportunity to do the main thing, we still had a whole lot of fun and I can definitely feel that our class has bonded a whole lot more and all of us are very good friends now,” quoted Martin Aviles, a student at UWCSEA East.

A student in 8JRa, who also did the crate stacking last year in Grade 7 quoted “Crate Stacking, working in teams to do it, makes us so much more efficient and helps us problem solve in a partnership much better, which is a life lesson that will help us in later life. It also adds a sense of trust, with the belayer and your partner, which got us all closer together. All in all, it has helped us socially, and physically.”

This is absolutely true. Many people get things done way more efficiently. 3 students out of Four claimed that they work better in teams and they enjoy it because it really helps. This is exactly what crate stacking has shown us all.

Written by Arjun

What Do Sports Days Actually Mean?

Last year, there was a certain anxiety and wait for the 2 most arguably popular days in UWCSEA, the Sports Days. Both days were extremely fun-filled and students of Grade 7 relished the day. These were going to be the days when the mentor groups would compete for the glory of winning the Sports Days. Everyone knew how the day would unfold.

Out of all the interviews held, mostly everyone had loved the 2 days of sports. “I’d rather play video games than swim all day and run around on the field.” said one of the annoyed students. The eventual winners of Sports Day was 7 DSz. Kunal Daga from DSz said that “We worked really hard to keep fighting and win the points.” When asked about the team in a whole, Kunal said “I’m pretty sure everyone gave their best and were really motivated all through out.” Another student from DSz said “I’m glad that we won Sports Day because my friends were always nagging me about how I was really bad at sports. This shut them up.”

After a long day in the sun, the students were excited and waiting to know who won. Going bottom placed to first, the boo’s were loud. As soon as SMu was announced 2nd, the whole of DSz ran out and started giving each other high-fives. There was chaos as other classes blamed them of cheating and made other such ridiculous claims. Even through their best efforts, the teachers couldn’t calm down the students. As the pandemonium wore of, the teachers took control.

Even though they had lost, students from the losing teams were pretty cool about it. According to an unconfirmed source, they didn’t believe that their class could win at all but were happy to have taken part and have a lot of fun. While some believed that their class hadn’t put in 100% effort and were very disruptive to the team’s moral.

Overall, people seemed joyful as they exited out the Astro-turf. They had gotten their well-deserved break from the exhausting routine of Middle School work. Not only that but they had gotten a day where they could bond with their classmates. This was a day full of learning and collaboration even though it might not seem so. For the students this was just a fun day, but the big idea behind this was to bring the school together.

Written by Kunal