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The 35th World Olympic Mind finals in 2014 were held in Iowa State University, U.S. on May 31, in which a total of 836 teams around the world gathered together. During the competition, they displayed an impressive team spirit and an admirable ability to use knowledge for creative engineering technology. As the first-time contestant in the finals, SUES’s Creative Alliance Society won the third place in "Superposition structure" in the category of college students, next only to Oklahoma State University and University of Pennsylvania As an international youth scientific innovation competition originated in the U.S.in 1978, Olympic Mind (OM) is intended to assess students’ innovative spirit and team spirit, with the competition for college students divided into structural problem, classical and mechanical problems. Since its inception in China in 1987, OM has spread to more than ten provinces and municipalities in China. Since its founding, OM has been welcomed by young people across the world and moreover been highly acclaimed by worldwide educators and politicians. Actually, several U.S. presidents including Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton have expressed their support for the game in letters and videos. Mick Ruth, one of the founders of OM, assumes the chairmanship of the organizing committee of this game. This is also the first time that SUES has sent its team to the finals of OM. Seven students from school of automobile engineering, school of chemical engineering, and school of urban light rail transportation immediately started to set up equipment for the game upon their arrival at Iowa State University despite 19 hours of tiring flight journey. The team members cleverly used the available materials to fix partial damaged equipment due to long-distance transportation. During the game, the competing students carried cases weighing a dozen of kilograms between the game site and their dorms on foot every day. To pursue creation and perfection, they wasted no time in making elaborate improvements to several procedures. In the final of the category of "superposition structure", with concerted efforts, students were able to use a piece of 18-gram Paulownia to lift a 445-pound object, which was equivalent to supporting a weight more than ten thousand times of its own, setting the best historical record in the structural problem in the category of college students from China. This competition has received great care from SUES leadership and vigorous support from department of international exchange, department of teaching affairs, department of student affairs, school of automobile engineering, school of chemical engineering, school of management. In addition, publicity department and SUES president office also extended constant warm care and assistance to the preparation for the contest. The competing students greatly cherished this rare opportunity by making meticulous preparations for 8 months and intensifying efforts nearly around the clock during the last two months leading up to the contest, finally winning satisfactory prizes on the world stage. The students have broadened their outlook by taking part in the world-level event, and moreover gained a deeper understanding of the objective and significance of OM as well as of the importance of exchange, learning and sharing. It is hoped that SUES students can win greater honors for China under the efforts of young people devoted to OM. |
