In our Catapultary project, my group represented India and  won third place. During the trial rounds, our catapult consistently hit the goal because we kept revising the throwing arm and adjusting the design until it worked smoothly. However, during the finals, the pressure affected us. We were flustered and changed players multiple times, which made our results inconsistent and caused us to miss the target.

From this experience, I learned the importance of staying calm and sticking to a clear plan during high-pressure moments. I also grew as a Strategic Learner, one of the MUIDS ESLOs, because I treated each mistake as a chance to grow, improve the design and adjust our approach. The constant testing and revising helped me see how valuable it is to learn from failure rather than avoid it. At the same time, analyzing why our catapult worked during trials but struggled in the finals strengthened my skills as an Innovative Thinker, as I looked for solutions and improvements instead of giving up.

Overall, this performance task taught me teamwork, adaptability and the importance of learning through iteration. Even though, we didn’t perform perfectly in the finals, the process helped me grow both technically and personally.