South West Brain Bee 2020 – an absolute success!
South West Brain Bee 2020 – an absolute success!
The South West Brain Bee regional competition took place on 8th of February in Kingdown school, Warminster. 27 students across the South West, Midlands and Wales competed for a place in the national competition demonstrating their hard work across all exam sections.
The day started with a warm welcome by volunteers and an even warmer goodie bag to motivate and relieve some of the participants’ stress. Mr Alex Case, the presenter for day, welcomed all to the event and shared some key facts about Brain Bee and Dr Norbert Myslinski’s vision. The participants then proceeded to their first exam while all guests enjoyed a nice breakfast while watching The Theory of Everything; a movie on Stephen Hawking’s life and battle with a neurodegenerative disease.
The written exam
Participants started competing in a written exam that included multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks questions on any topic included in their study resources. Participants were quite impressed by the format of this section and a few described it as quite challenging!
The neuroanatomy/ neurohistology exam and the patient diagnosis exam
Participants were then split into two groups for the next two sections. The group that completed the neuroanatomy/ neurohistology section found themselves identifying slides, pictures and models arranged in stations. The participants had the chance to observe brain models, an eye model and look under the microscope at slides. The group that completed the patient diagnosis was given a small booklet with descriptions of patients’ symptoms. Additionally, some case studies included videos of the patient, so the participants had the opportunity to observe any symptoms demonstrated.
The speakers
We were delighted to host three wonderful guest speakers that motivated the participants about pursuing neuroscience even more. Mrs Gemma Bloxham shared her journey through Higher Education and her work with the British Neuroscience Association. Miss Tilly Clutsom excited the audience with distinct and impactful; case studies linking psychology and neuroscience and lastly, Dr Rohit Sinha shared his path and ambition towards becoming a specialty registrar in neurosurgery, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge as well as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and CRUK Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
The break and the results
All participants worked very hard during the day and did their best. In order to refuel and reward them, we enjoyed pizzas, salads, cupcakes and a wonderful brain-cake!
The very much anticipated results were shared announcing the top 10. The participants with the 10 highest scores proceeded to the next and final stage, the live Q&A.
Live Q&A
Our judges, Mr David Bowman, Mrs Gemma Bloxham and our lead judge Miss Elena Toma from the British Neuroscience Association, challenged the top 10 finalists with short-answer questions. From a very nerve-wracking round that needed more questions to break a tie, we concluded to the top 5 finalists!
Our top 5
Huge congratulations to:
First place – Yuan Zhou from Cheltenham Ladies’ College
Second place – Elizabeth Candish from Denmark Road High School
Third place – Timothy Lee from Kingdown school
Fourth Place – Amy Dunster from Kingdown school
Fifth place – Libby Harris from Hayesfield Girls’ School
Your hard work and dedication are exemplary to all and we look forward to seeing how you perform in the national competition very soon!
This event would have been a success without the support of our sponsors, the British Neuroscience Association, the DANA foundation, Kingdown school, Kingdown’s students that volunteered on the day and the team that organised the event Mr Alex Case, Mr David Bowman and Miss Tilly Clutsom.
Miss Georgia Keloglou
South West Brain Bee director