INSO contestants get R&R after Olympiad proper

After four days of rolling with the rigors of the first ever International Nuclear Science Olympiad (INSO), the participants finally had their much-needed rest and recreation on Day 5 of their olympiad journey at the Innovation Center of the Miriam College in Quezon City.  

The R&R was held the day after the student contestants finally got their gadgets back following their surrender to the local organizing committee on their arrival day. With their phones back, they finally had contact with the outside world, including their families and their coaches. 

Their phones indeed were kept busy throughout the day. Aside from snapping photos and recording videos, the contestants also exchanged contact details and profiles through their phones—as the practice among Gen Zs.

They were grouped in round tables in an interesting mix of nations per table. They were also joined by local students from the Philippine Science High School-Central Luzon Campus, San Francisco High School of Quezon City, Quezon City Science High School, and Miriam College.

To break the ice and make the groups work together, the hosts made them play the “Category Showdown” game in which each group wrote on the flipboard all the answers they could think of in a certain category.

Next, the students focused on themselves as they played the “Diversity Flower.” In this game everyone answers the questions at the back of a petal, highlighting the differences among themselves. The “flower” is a take-off of the INSO logo which is shaped like the sampaguita, the Philippine national flower.

In between activities were raffles with simple prizes that are suitable to their age group.

The highlight of the day was the Meet and Greet with Experts which enabled the contestants and local students to hobnob and interview nuclear scientists, such as Mr. Dave Grabaskas, a risk analysis and safety analysis expert; Ms. Helena Zhivistkaya, nuclear knowledge management expert; Ms Marina Binti Mishar, Section Head for TC Division for Asia & the Pacific 2 at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Dr. Maya Al Azri, Department of Physics, Sultan Qaboos University in Oman; 

Dr. Jane Gerardo Abaya, former director of the IAEA’s Department of Technical Cooperation Asia and the Pacific Division; Dr. Takeshi Iimoto, professor at the Division for Environment - Health and Safety of the University of Tokyo in Japan; Ms, Rorlinda Yusof, social and behavioral scientist from the Universiti Kebangsaan in Malaysia; and Dr. Carlo Arcilla, a geologist and the director of the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Nuclear Research Institute.

The contestants and students later hopped on to the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute where they toured the Philippine Research Reactor-1 Subcritical Assembly for Training, Education, and Research, the first and only nuclear reactor training facility in the Philippines, and the PhilGamma Irradiation Facility. 

Two days prior to their R&R, the students visited the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s only power plant constructed in the 70s but is never operated.  (INSO Publicity Working Team)