Our journey began several months ago as we got our first neuroscience booklet to study. In time, we did round one - an online test - and a group of us made it through to round two. Flash forward about two months, and we were in the van and heading to Dunedin.

Upon arriving in Dunedin, we visited the Cadbury chocolate factory which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, especially as eating chocolate was involved. After this we put our gear in the discovery section of the museum where we would be staying that night. We had some time to look around the museum and most of us went to the butterfly exhibition which was very impressive.

After settling into the museum, we walked with the other groups to the Human Anatomy Museum. The Human Anatomy Museum is a part of the Otago University where students can learn about parts of the body first hand, as there are numerous, real, human body parts in this area. The body parts range from limbs which have been preserved so they can be picked up and touched, to fetuses in displays, and plasticized brains, with some pieces cross-sectioned to show the different brain areas. We were able to walk through the different parts of the museum and look at the body parts. Some people felt a bit uneasy around it, but for most of us it was really interesting to see the organs first hand, rather than in diagrams and models.

After the Anatomy Museum, we headed back to the Otago Museum to have dinner and go to bed. Before dinner, we headed down to the Discovery World and played air hockey, had a mind relaxation competition or two, and then went back upstairs to study for the next day. After dinner, all of the schools staying at the museum went for a walk around the rooms in the dark with the alarms on. It was a lot of fun and a challenge to not set the alarms off. The walk took us into the Animal Attic, which was a bit scary because they were all staring straight at you. When we got back, we were given mattresses and all found a spot to sleep on. The next morning we got up to have breakfast, put our uniforms on, packed our bags and crammed in some last minute studying. We had been waiting two months for this moment, and we were as ready as we’d ever be.

As we got settled into our seats, we were each given a bag which had our test papers, a pen and some neuroscience goodies. After being introduced to the competition, we began the individual test part A consisting of 20 questions. Half an hour later, we handed in our papers and then began the individual test part B, which assessed us on our knowledge of brain diagrams. The questions were very hard, especially considering the fact that there were no multi-choice answers to choose from, like in round one. From the minute the clock started, we were on our own. Finally, we had finished the first part of the competition and relaxed in the knowledge that we had all tried our best. A win for any one of us, was a win for all of us.

Afterwards, Dr Kristin Hillman gave us a mini-lecture on “The Brains of Slackers” and explained why some people work harder than others. It was very interesting and everyone enjoyed the lecture very much. Then we launched into the team competition, participated by Daniel Wei, Ashley Walsh, Becky Marshall and Erica Chung. The team worked together and showed good team spirit, successfully making it through to the second round along with a few teams from other schools. Apoorva Patelkhana, Daniel Wei and Erica Chung on the other hand, made it to the individual semi-finals along with 19 other students, out of over 80 participants in the competition.

Before reaching any finals rounds in the competition, we headed off to the HUBS lab for a unique experience. Here we got to put on lab coats and feel like real neuroscientists. For the first part we had a chance to look at brains as well as ask questions about anything we liked. There were various activities set up for us to do around the room and some of us even made it into the Otago Daily Times newspaper. In the next part we worked with computers and electronic devices. We connected these to our arms and by changing the settings we were able to see twitches in our arm, some of quite high strength and others that were lower. This was very impressive and quite fun especially when you were controlling how much your friend was going to twitch.

By two o’clock we were back in the Hutton theatre ready for the team and individual finals. After eagerly waiting, it was announced that our team had made it to the last round! We were ecstatic from this news and quickly set ourselves up, ready to answer the questions. Upon finishing the team finals, our answers were taken in and the individual finals were up next. The individual competition worked by having all the contestants sit up the front and read aloud their answers as they were asked. Daniel, to his surprise, had made it into the finals. There was a teacher activity to fill in time whilst both the team and individual answers were marked to determine placings.

The moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. Riccarton High School had managed to place third for the team competition, receiving a $200 Education Perfect voucher for the school, a glass plaque and $30 Prezzy gift cards for each team member. Daniel, on the other hand, had placed a very humble first in the competition, making us all very proud. Our cheer was definitely the loudest in the room, especially when he was given a $150 prezzy card, a glass plaque and a trophy. It was announced that he would be leaving for Tasmania, Australia in early December this year to compete for the next round, representing the South Island.

Unfortunately, the two day experience had to come to an end. After the finals, we all packed our bags and headed to the van, except for Daniel, much to our dismay. The trip home was very different to the trip there - Instead of spending every minute studying in anguish, we all relaxed and delved into deep conversations, watching the stars replace the sunset. We made a stop at Timaru and had dinner at Mcdonalds, sharing good laughs with our newly made friends. At last, we had reached Riccarton High. The time had come to bid our farewells and eventually we all left, reminiscing at the truly one-of-a-kind experience and the great bunch of friends that came with it.

Brain Bee was really an amazing opportunity for all of us, and we would fully recommend it for anyone in the future. Who knows, maybe one of you juniors will have what it takes to be the next winner?