Last week was a historic week for Xavier Jesuit School for many reasons.
On Thursday March 1st, 12 students from grade 7 and 8 and three of their teachers departed for the 7 hour journey to Phnom Penh, to visit the 4th Annual Cambodian Science and Engineering Festival (CSEF2018).This festival is an exciting celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The students had taken part in an experiment competition in their science class in order to be picked to as one of the 12 to attend from XJS, so there was great excitement throughout the classes as the winners were chosen from stiff competition.
For some students it was their very first visit to Phnom Penh!
The Cambodian Science and Engineering Festival 2018 was held in the Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh, so the students also had to opportunity to explore their national stadium where we saw athletes training before the STEM event.
The CSEF 2018 exhibition was full of exciting and innovative experiments, that our students could experience and engage with. Our students were confident and eager to learn about the world of science, it was an encouraging sight to see them grab this opportunity!
A second historic moment for Xavier Jesuit School was the very first visit of our students to Banteay Prieb, a Jesuit Service Cambodia (JSC) training centre and home for young people with disabilities. Our students were warmly welcomed by the staff and students there. They enjoyed seeing the amazing work that goes on in this centre. Many students said it was their favourite stop on the 3 day trip!
We ended the trip with a cooking competition between the students in our accommodation and we were very impressed with the students teamwork and the wonderful dishes that they prepared together.
A big thank you to Mr.Narin and Ms.Savry who were a great help in accompanying students on this trip.
This is the second year we have taken this trip and we hope to continue to encourage our students to explore the world of science to enable them to be problem solvers and innovators to help in the future of Cambodia.