CHARITIES

from SHAMAL 2021

SPORT

THE BRITISH PHYSICS OLYMPIAD (BPHO)

Every year, the British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) runs a plethora of competitions; the most unique of them is the experimental project. To take part in the competition one must figure out the best-suited apparatus to carry out the experiment, and then use the results to produce an analytical report. There are two categories in this competition: GCSE and A Level. From each category, one report is chosen by the DC Physics Department, and these winning reports are then sent to the BPhO as official entries where they are marked against reports from all the other competing schools.

At DC, we have an ECA which dedicates one lunchtime every week to the planning and execution of our experiment under the supervision of Ms O’Dwyer. In our very first session, we received a document giving us a brief introduction to the topic of the experiment (in this year’s case, seiche waves) as well as the objectives for carrying out the experiment. In this year’s project we were given the following things to do:

Observe the behaviour of waves in a tray as you tip it up and the water sloshes from end to end.

Make a set of measurements of the period of the waves and the depth of the water, to obtain a relation between the dimensions of the body of water and the period of the sloshing motion.

Although we are given a general idea of how to conduct the experiment, we had to decide on the specifics to maintain precision and accuracy. Once the experiment was conducted, the participants set out to produce a report of up to 12 pages long. Some of the basic components that are to be covered in the report include an introduction, procedure, precautions, theory, results, conclusions, and improvements. The report created a unique opportunity where we were able to explore published research to help understand and improve our own analysis. For example, some of us took inspiration from the Merian Formula to help equate and find a relationship for our water seiches.

This year, the reports chosen from DC were those of Shrish Janarthanan for the A Level category and Pranav Sangwan for the GCSE category. Results from the BPhO are still awaited.

After completing the experimental project, some of our students took on a new challenge: the BPhO exam. This year was quite different as the exam was sat in an online format with only multiple-choice questions. DC had record participation with an excellent set of results and awards at the end.

We would like to thank the entire Physics Department for their continual support, in particular Ms O'Dwyer and Mr Briggs for their guidance in the experimental project and Olympiad exam.

Pranav Sangwan, 11AYO Shrish Janarthanan, 12LHO

YEAR 11 BRITISH PHYSICS OLYMPIAD

Ten Year 11 students recently volunteered to take on the task of competing in the British Physics Olympiad Intermediate Challenge as part of DC’s academic extension programme. The BPhO runs these competitions as motivation for the best and brightest physics students to stretch themselves intellectually.

Dubai College students pulled off a very impressive performance with 5 Gold Awards, 4 Silver Awards, and 1 Bronze. Considering that only the very best physics students in the world take this test, achieving the top awards becomes an even greater achievement. We in the Physics Department are all very proud of them. The students are:

Pranav Sangwan - Gold, Aditya Sridhar - Gold, Nicholas Tsen - Gold, Maharu Gunasekara - Gold, Aman Burman - Gold, Advay Chawla - Silver, Soumil Mukherjee - Silver, Viha Kedia - Silver, Sanaa Carrimjee - Silver, Sahil Kewalramani - Bronze

THE DUBAI COLLEGE STOCK EXCHANGE CHALLENGE 2021

Ring, ring, ring.

Every morning at 9:00 am New York time, the NYSE opens for business. The secluded room housing servers that control billions of dollars comes to life. You can ask anyone who has ever bought a stock before – that the opening bell is music to one's ears. That music, my friends, is the sound of money.

Our pied piper, Mr Christopher, provided us with virtual capital to the tune of $100,000 to play with, and the world to seize. The DC Stock Market Challenge gave rise to a few budding Warren Buffets, Bobby Axelrods, and Jordan Belforts – and was a perfect taste of the stock market for the rookies just starting out.

Truth be told – there is blood in the streets, and there is a lot of it. Littered with the fallout from the petty battles between hedge funds and retail investors, we saw some incredibly frothy markets, however, some talented students managed to tame the motion of the ocean and ride the very biggest of the waves.

The beauty of the stock market is how you eat what you kill – and I'm incredibly glad to say that us DC students are very, very well fed. We saw some meteoric rises, and some meteoric drops. When the dust settled, we had 17% of investors outperforming the S&P 500 index, along with a further 41% of investors creating wealth.

There is always going to be the insider with more information, the algorithm with more speed, the trader with more experience – but, at the end it us up to you to brave the battle that stands in front of you. Trading is neither an art, nor a science – it's more comparable to a glorified fish market. However at the end of the day, it's a tool that can make someone's life.

Carpe diem.

AryaanshRathore,10CSI

DUBAI KEYNES SOCIETY

The Dubai Keynes Society has accomplished another year suffused with thought-provoking presentations and high attendance rates on a constant, weekly basis. A range of fascinating, super-curricular topics were explored thoroughly in our internal talks, including the following:

The problems caused by automation, and how Universal Basic Income can help To what extend the UK’s macroeconomic objectives and major industries have taken a hit on account of the COVID-19 pandemic The Political Economy and Society – everything you need to know Agents and Game Theory Cryptocurrency and its impact on monetary policy Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and its effect on the U.S economy To what extent have millionaire migrants, and their influence on gentrification patterns in London, benefitted the city

In addition to these internal talks, we had the wonderful pleasure of welcoming back Mr Jahangir Aka for the sixth consecutive year. As a managing director for Neuberger Berman - one of the most reputable investment management firms - Mr Aka provided deep insight into topical financial and economic affairs, including the impact of the US political transition on markets, the GameStop and general stock market situation, as well as how the unrolling of vaccination programs will contribute to market recovery.

The Keynes Society also hosted Mrs Treasa Tomy-Sirko, a Goldman Sachs Executive Director, who engaged in deep discussion concerning Investment Banking and the financial sector, providing valuable advice on pursuing this career. Finally, Mr Sandeep Gupta, a Dubai College parent and Senior Manger of Al Tayer Group, delivered a marvellous workshop on presentation skills, emphasisng the significance of minimal text on slides and natural dialogue to keep the audience constantly engaged with the speaker.

Overall, the Dubai Keynes Society has enjoyed a fantastic start to the year of 2021. We are grateful for all those who have contributed to its persistent success, especially Mr Christopher, those who volunteered to research their chosen topic and express their findings to a wider audience, and all the students and teachers who consistently attend the sessions and actively engage in the talks.

Kian Kazranian, 12SFO

CHARITIES OVERVIEW

We are quite adept at dodging obstacles in the Charity Committee, and this year was no exception. Socially distanced queues, gallons of hand sanitiser and latex gloves all formed part of our new normal.

In spite of restrictions, we have had the opportunity to organise various clothing drives (in partnership with Thrift for Good), distanced sweet sales, book donation drives, a Hamper Distribution to a local labour camp and our most recent endeavour, the ‘Journey to Jaisithok’ challenge!

This was the ‘piece de resistance’ of our year as the gauntlet was handed to the Dubai College community to pledge their commitment to walk/ run/hop/skip/cycle their part on our 7412km journey to Jaisithok School, Nepal. With a target of 20,000AED, it was wonderful to see the entire school community pull together. Mr Kimber successfully built his legs of steel by climbing up 73 flights of stairs daily; Morgan Dean in Year 7 back flipped his way to Nepal; the incredible Welsh strongmen of the DT department (aka The Dream Team) pledged a cool 1000km distance between them. Thank you also for all the other incredible feats of endeavour in between. We more than doubled our 'Journey to Jaisithok' target, raising more than 51,000AED!

In all, we have been able to raise more than 115,000AED for our Nepal school this year.

We are grateful for the entire community’s efforts, especially the men and women in blue, who enthusiastically make all our events possible, despite the challenging circumstances!

Thank you,

Lee Ann Lee, 13JBA Aria Kumar, 13MDH Anavi Madnani, 13JBV Divraj Singh, 13SCH Heads of Charity Committee