Question 1: How was your first day at AIX?
It was a bit overwhelming because I am not used to being around a lot of people my age, but I was comfortable because I knew some of my friends were here. I was not as comfortable as I would have wanted to be but the first day was good. I could see that AIX was going to be a fun experience – to be specific, it was the energy that led me to believe that it was going to be fun. I was nervous but excited.
Question 2: What were your expectations?
I thought AIX would be just full of learning, but when I watched the coaches perform (or, more specifically, dance), that expectation was altered. It helped me realize that there would be a lot of enjoyment and that it wouldn’t just be about books. I didn’t have very high hopes when I arrived, but Ashesi well surpassed what little I did have.
Question 3: What was your most exciting day at AIX last week?
Technically speaking, my most thrilling day was a night. That evening was Karaoke night. Even though I couldn’t speak that night since I had lost my voice, I was still drawn to perform with a friend since I loved seeing everyone else perform. We had a great time.
Question 4: What was your favourite challenge last week?
The water propulsion task from last week was my favorite since I was so perplexed by the supplies they gave us: plastic plates and cups, straws, balloons, pegs, and rubber ties. I’ve got a balloon. The object should be moving; flying is not what it should be doing. What then do I do?
One of my team members came up with a really great idea, but we weren’t entirely sure if it would actually work. However, when we tried our hands on it, it appeared to be quite messy. We noticed that every other team had finished except for our team. We made an effort to complete our solution before deciding to test it during the testing time, and it was successful. We just went back to try to find out how to make our “boats” move from one place to the next significantly faster and without any human assistance (as per the rules stated). It was thrilling and really got us thinking. But it was much more exciting after we won.
Question 5: On that day, your team won all the challenges you partook in. How did that feel?
Honestly, when the day began, I was in a bad mood. The tick-tack toe was our first obstacle. I didn’t want to participate, but we eventually won. Although we won, I was still not all that happy about it, so I went on to the following tournament, which we also won. We succeeded in water propulsion, as mentioned. For the water propulsion, as aforementioned, we won. The final challenge was the marshmallow challenge. We kept it in the back of our minds how we had won the first two challenges and we were motivated to win the last one, so we approached the challenge with an open mind and enthusiasm. Also, the fact that everyone was looking up to us gave us the motivation to put in our best for the challenge.
Question 6: What is a day like at the AIX engineering module for you?
The first day was quite overwhelming because it was mainly theoretical. However, the subsequent days delt with the physical aspects of engineering and made me realise how much I want to pursue engineering in the future because everyday you are faced with new challenges which require you to engineer a solution and also use your creativity – which we have learnt about in the design module. Engineering is really interesting for me. Some may think it is boring but then it probably means that it is not for you. Also, I have learnt to appreciate the theoretical aspect more after we started the practical aspect because I have realised that without it, it would be very difficult for you to do the practical part.
Anna-Phina Dadson
The Ashesi Innovation Experience (AIX) 