Junior Young Physicists’ Tournament 2024

JYPT requires students to research and conduct experiments relating to an open-ended physics problem prior to the tournament, for example: ‘find the optimum way of throwing a 'frisbee' as far as possible. Explain your findings’.

The competition was of a high standard and seeing what our Year 9 and 10 students were able to understand and communicate was truly awe inspiring. The nature of the tournament required the students to not just give a 10-minute speech on their physics problem, but to answer questions on the spot and then participate in a discussion with a member of another team. When acting as an opponent, they needed to thoroughly interpret what had been presented, identify strengths and weaknesses, and find the most pertinent points to focus on when leading the discussion. 

BGGS was represented by two teams:

BGGS Blue (Rutherford):

• Angel Li (Captain) (10G)
• Minuli Ilangamage (9H)
• Grace Zhao (9L)
• Aurora Lin (9B)
• Ayana Mukherjee (9B)

BGGS White (Einstein):

• Lucy Petersen (Captain) (9B)
• Soumya Brahmbhatt (9M)
• Qiwen Mo (9O)
• Gina Kumar (9H)
• Cindy Zhang (10L)

We congratulate both teams on their performances. BGGS White (Einstein) finished in third place (Silver Award) and BGGS Blue (Rutherford) finished in sixth place (Bronze Award). These are impressive results and it was wonderful to see the growth of the teams throughout the tournament.

BGGS students from Years 7 to 12 volunteered their time to act as part of the Support Team for the tournament. This included activities such as time-keeping, data recording, preparing and serving meals, and running the student briefing at the beginning of the tournament. Thanks are extended to all of those involved.

The overall tournament winners were from Carey Baptist College, Western Australia and the runners-up were from Wellington High School, New Zealand.

Allissa Li (2013), a past BGGS student and now an Aircraft Structures Engineer at Boeing, attended the tournament dinner and gave an inspiring address on how skills gained through competitions like JYPT are valuable in STEM careers. Allissa competed in JYPT in 2011 and was a member of the Australian IYPT (International Young Physicists’ Tournament) Team in 2012 (Team Captain) and 2013.

Participation in JYPT is open to students in Years 7 to 10 and is an opportunity for students to extend themselves and further develop their critical thinking and analytical skills in a physics context. Work has begun in preparation for the 2025 tournament, however, it is not too late for students to join in. Interested students should come along to Monday meetings at lunchtime in K601.