Brain Olympia

By Olive McFarlane

It all started on Week 2 of Term 4 when the participants of the St Mary of the Angels team in ‘Brain Olympia’ was announced! Glee was spread through the room but nerves were sensed, though from the pleasant help from a sneaky trivia, the team was ready to go. The participants were Olive McFarlane, Mackenzie Ellem, Edward Grills, Sienna Nguyen, Ellie Bavea, Sam Reeves, Christopher Welsh and Bella Hayes, all ranging from the classes of years 4-6.

On the 26th of October, eager, exhilarated, pumped yet the tiniest bit uneasy, Brain Olympians loaded cars with all the supplies that they needed for the day. All students for the SMOTA team were prepared but were they really prepared for the questions, brain teasers, mind bogglers and small parts in between. As we all arrived at the venue of Holy Trinity Catholic School, Inverell, the team was ready for a jam packed day.

The first event was a General Knowledge Trivia that the whole team participated in. This ranged from categories of English, HSIE, Science, Famous People and Places and some Current Affairs. The team worked hard, racking their brains for answers they knew were at their fingertips. In the end of this never ending round, the team was hungry from all this solid work which paid to get quite a good score, but not quite superior if they wanted that top score at the end of the day. They still had a chance so after having a quick snack for recess, a speech was written with effortless determination and an over-adequate amount of vocabulary, emotion and it was spot on for the topic. The topic of ‘If only…’ which could be written in any form and about any topic. While some teams took a poem writing approach, we wrote about ‘If only the world was peaceful’. With a successful speech, read fluently by Olive, up their sleeves, they were heading for victory but there was still a difference-making 2 rounds left which could change anything.

Problem Solving was the next round of the day on the agenda, so all teams put their thinking caps on, particularly ours. The 45 minutes that was required to efficiently do our maths thinking, was flawlessly chewed up but this didn’t affect the strength of the team, as we triumphantly completed the 5 testing questions.

Lunch was a generous amount of scrumptious feasting, as provided by the exquisite ladies at the school canteen. As we devoured lunch, we were set to creating a small drama production around the classic, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. SMOTA’s team created a small production named ‘Goldilocks and the Five Bears- Aussie Edition’. This was extremely amusing as well as entertaining and with the advantage of the fact our team was full with quick-witted and humorous chaps we were prepared for the stage. A few teams were before us, but when our names were introduced the spotlight was on us. We weren't thinking: we have to win or the impression of our school will be devoured for history; we thought: let’s go out there and make the most of this experience, put a giggle in the air and smash this! I think that we can all agree- not only ours but many other schools’ performances were amazing, astounding and astonishing! I praise Christopher Welsh for his flawless performance as the one and only ‘Goldilocks’.

Finally all of the scores were announced and out of the small schools category, SMOTA came out on top. This indicated that our team was off to a triumphant start and was on our way to Narrabri. Although it was flattering news, we were just proud of ourselves for already successfully making it this far. New friends from other schools were met, memories were made, happiness was fulfilled and dreams were achieved. Brain Olympia 2022 was victorious and extremely heart fulfilling. Not everyday do you get the opportunity to go and be selected for a mind-boggling genius game for a once in a life-time opportunity.

The team and I sincerely thank Mrs Nugent for her supervision and organisation along with Miss Martin, the parents that made the travel arrangements happen, Mrs Gayes, organiser of the event, Holy Trinity School and all the other incredible people that made it all possible.

Written by Olive McFarlane