Ah, the life of a physics evangelist in Saigon—where the humidity frizzes your hair and the traffic tests your mortality. Yet, armed with a passion for Newton’s laws and a penchant for the dramatic, I embarked on a mission to enlighten young minds through the OnlyPhysics Saigon workshops.
Our ragtag ensemble, the Only Physics Saigon (OPS) group, was a motley crew of six, each bringing a unique flair to the scientific circus. We spent four months concocting experiments that would make even Einstein raise an eyebrow. Our pièce de résistance? The “invisibility lens” experiment—a delightful trick that made objects vanish into thin air, much like my patience during a power outage.
The inaugural spectacle took place at Marie Curie High School, where we dazzled a gaggle of 11th graders. Their reactions ranged from awe to the kind of confusion typically reserved for advanced calculus. We even immortalized the event on YouTube, because if it’s not online, did it really happen?
Buoyed by this triumph, we set our sights on other high schools across Ho Chi Minh City, planning a tour de force for January and February 2025. Our goal? To ignite a fervor for physics that would outshine the allure of TikTok dances and viral cat videos.
This hands-on approach not only demystified the enigmatic world of physics but also fostered a delightful mingling of students from international and public schools. It was a veritable melting pot of intellects, united by the shared experience of making things explode in the name of education.
Buoyed by this initial triumph, we mapped out a city-wide tour, plotting stops at public and international schools. Our January-February campaign would reach hundreds of students, bridging divides between different communities through the universal language of science.
But make no mistake—this was no sleek TED Talk circuit. Our equipment was cobbled together, tested, and retested under less-than-ideal conditions. We had moments of comedy (like when the Tesla coil set off a minor classroom blackout) and drama (an invisibility lens prototype that cracked at the last second). But through it all, the goal remained steadfast: to rekindle a love for learning.
In a city where the only constant is the honking of motorbikes, our workshops provided a refreshing detour into the wonders of STEM. We didn’t just teach physics; we made it an experience—one that was as enlightening as it was entertaining.
So, here’s to the OPS group: may our experiments continue to baffle, our workshops inspire, and our YouTube channel garner more views than a sneezing panda. After all, in the grand theater of education, why settle for anything less than a standing ovation?
Let’s have a toast for the messy, magical and maybe mundane marvels of physics.
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