Meriden’s Year 10 students secured a third-place finish in the 2023 Da Vinci Decathlon, achieving three top-three rankings in the fiercely contested state-level competition. Demonstrating exceptional performance within their peer group, the students attained first place in English and Cartography, second place in Ideation and sixth place in Legacy.
The team’s success positioned the girls at the forefront of the most talented and accomplished students from over seventy schools across New South Wales.
Meredith Xu was tasked with completing the Cartography paper, which required her to complete tasks such as pinpointing the headquarters of United Nations organisations, recognising significant global highways and delving into the geography of the United States.
Meredith highlighted that even though Cartography was her assigned task, accomplishing its demanding requirements remained a collaborative endeavour.
“In preparation for the competition, we brainstormed potential topics as a team and divided the content. My teammates had committed the states in America to memory, so when that question emerged on the paper, I handed it over to them,” said Meredith.
“I was very appreciative of the support of my teammates. Even though the girls had their own papers to work on, they still put in effort to help me cover as much content as possible for Cartography. Whenever I was unsure of certain locations, I asked the rest of my team for a second opinion.”
Sophie Yi, who completed the rigorous English paper alongside Olivia Lee and Sophie Tan, agreed collaboration was pivotal to their success.
“Our tasks were very time-consuming. We divided the work among ourselves and swapped the papers to allow for proofreading and suggestions. Before starting a new question, we agreed on our approach to the task and ensured that neither of us was struggling to complete our assigned section,” said Sophie.
“The best part of competing in the Decathlon was the camaraderie we shared. We enjoyed exploring innovative and creative ideas together and it was exciting to compete in such a lively environment filled with cheers and laughter.”
Meriden’s five teams delivered exceptional performances across the ten subject areas. The Year 8 team achieved first place in Art and Poetry and third place in English, while the Year 9 team secured second place in Code Breaking and the Year 7 team earned second place in Engineering.
The Decathlon presents challenges crafted to assess students’ advanced cognitive abilities, problem-solving expertise and imaginative prowess. The competition encompasses a diverse array of disciplines, including Engineering, Mathematics, Chess, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Cartography and Legacy.
Congratulations to every student who proudly represented the School in this prestigious competition.
Meriden’s 2023 Da Vinci Decathlon teams consisted of the following students:
Year 7 team – Grace El-Khoury (reserve), Alice Feng, Danielle Ho, Adeline Hu, Emma Rose Koeswandy, Serena Li, Thea Luttrell (reserve), Rochelle Tao, Mia Wu and Gayaneesha Zelan
Year 8 team – Lisa Chen, Iris Gai (reserve), Eva Gao, Olivia Kim, Yiru Li, Anna Satchithananthan, Cindy Shen, Lillian Shen (reserve), Amelia Von and Jasmine Yang
Year 9 team – Ila Bains (reserve), Kaitlyn Blair, Amy Chen, Angelin Chen, Diya Maninathan, Sunae Park (reserve), Reshmi Ramana, Naomi Riaz, Keira Waked, Christina Zhou
Year 10 team – Sabrina Cao, Calleigh Chow (reserve), Leah Har, Olivia Lee, Sophie Tan, Selina Wang (reserve), Meredith Xu, Emily Yang, Victoria Yenson and Sophie Yi
Year 11 team – Elaine Huang, Anjali Kailasanathan, Seeya Naik Panvelkar, Nidhi Nellore (reserve), Erica Ng (reserve), Merryn Quang, Abisha Thevarajah, Jacinda Tjiantoro, Alicia Wang and Rachel Xie
