The Tournament of Minds International Finals are underway in Sydney right now. A team of six students from Esperance Primary School have made the journey from Esperance to Sydney to represent WA and do Esperance proud in the social sciences division of the tournament.
Before they set off, the Weekender had the opportunity to catch up with the students who shared some stories of their TOM journey so far.
What has been the best part of the tournament so far?
Our TOM teams journey started in 2023 where Mr Gurney selected 7 students to form our Year 5 team. During our TOM trips, such as our National final in Melbourne last year, many unforgettable memories were made. Whilst we made many memories of activities we participated in, such as visiting Sovereign Hill in Ballarat or competing against every state in Australia at La Trobe University, I think the best part of TOM for us has been the lifelong friendships along the way, who before this competition we hadn’t made strong friendship connections with.
-Zara
What has been the hardest part of the tournament?
The biggest challenge in TOM is the 3 hour process where we have to get given an unseen challenge. We have to creatively come up with a solution for the challenge presented in a play. During the 3 hours we firstly write a basic plot to the script, we call this the skeleton. After we have interpreted the skeleton, we handwrite a script. Later, the judges will unexpectedly come in to our room and give us a small problem we then have 4 mins to finish it then we then have 1 minute to present back. After everything has been polished, we have 10mins to present back to the judges a creative play.
-Aria and Nicholas
What are you looking forward to about competing in the international final in Sydney?
In Sydney we are looking forward to meeting students from all of the other states and building stronger relationships with our own team. We are also looking forward to seeing the famous tourist attractions that Sydney has to offer, such as the Taronga Zoo and the Sydney Eye. We are very excited to compete against the other State teams and the University of New South Wales where the TOM international finals are being held.
-Emily and Sienna
