Squid Game but make it STEM.

The school of engineering and pharmacy have collaborated to organize a joint event known as the Pharmgineering Race of 2022. The event took place bright and early, with registration starting at 9am on the 6th of August 2022, with 10 stations scattered throughout Monash University. 

It served as a bonding opportunity for students from both schools as they were brought together in groups of 4-5 students, with each team having to co-operate and sharpen their critical thinking skills in order to beat their opponents and gain points before moving onto the next station. All of the station games were facilitated by “Game Masters”, identifiable by their bright pink T-shirts, whereas contestants sported turquoise T-shirts. The team with the most points, Group 17 (Teoh Shi Yil, Phang Liang Jie, Indii Chooi Weng Ning, Ree Shing Chen) came out on top, followed by Group 10 (Joshua Ee Xian Zhen, Jordan Poon Kee Liang, Ryan Liew Le Huai, Tan Ting Jie) and in third place, Group 2 (Andrew Joseph Ng Man Loong, Andrew Miller Prince, Jovis Wong Jie Je, John Wu Chi Xian). 

Yi Tan, the point person from the School of Pharmacy said that as it was their first time organising a physical event with the School of Engineering, initially it was difficult however she mentioned that their collective experience certainly made the process much smoother.

Most of the games were centered around either a physical (Bottle Flip, Save The Egg, Balloon Duel), mental element (Know Your Drugs, Know Your Patient, Monkey See Monkey Do) or a combination of both. Whilst moving from station to station, groups were also racing against each other to complete a treasure hunt, where  a total of 10 virtual tokens in the form of QR Codes of pictures were placed randomly around campus. The first team to collect all 10 tokens and show them to a “Game Master” would then be declared the winner of the Treasure Hunt. 

“When I was first awarded the responsibility to manage the physical aspect of Pharmgineering with Yi Tan, I was expecting some friction, as there is with any collaborative agenda. However, I was mistaken because the entire process was extremely smooth and enjoyable, with only a few minor issues. We managed to pull off a huge chunk of detailed planning and the difference in perspective helped tie together Pharmgineering and make it a success. Yes, I am not denying that doing the event internally may be a lot easier, but after having been able to work with the amazing team from the School of Pharmacy, I truly believe that the benefits overcome the cons. Not only were we able to meet new people, but we also managed to get a glimpse of how different schools operate, which opened our eyes beyond just Pharmgineering but also gave us a better idea of the variety of schools Monash has to offer. In short, I believe that even with its cons, having inter-school events is the way to go forward as more physical events start to grow.” said Shoandeep, Head of Internal Events for SOE. 

The event wrapped up at 3pm and unlike the actual Squid Game (and fortunately for our contestants) there was no huge doll ready to play Hide-and-Seek with them, with one of the more difficult parts of the event, other than the station games themselves, was having to navigate Monash’s labyrinth-like campus, where even I, myself got lost in a few times. 

Finally, Janice Lee who spoke on behalf of SOP as well as SOE said: “We definitely look forward to future collaborations with the School of Engineering because we were incredibly impressed with how systematic and prepared their team was, allowing for the event to be executed well on both sides. We’re also planning to hold this event annually and even hope to incorporate the other STEM-centered schools such as SOS and SOIT.” 

Written by Ashley; Photos by Hanif and Jerry