Young chemists from St Ursula’s College have taken out the top two spots at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s 2023 NSW Titration Competition. In addition, Jaytita Sawatdipruksa achieved a personal score of zero, an extremely rare perfect score in this academically rigorous event.
Rosemary Goncalves, Althea Manigsaca and Rhiarna Antoun earned the top spot on the day. Second place went to Jennifer Costan, Jacqueline Keir and Jaytita Sawatdipruksa.
The Titration Competition challenges students to conduct a series of acid base titrations to calculate the concentration of an unknown solution. Teams are given 90 minutes to undertake the tasks individually and then use their results to determine the final concentration as a team.
It is the second year these girls have participated in the RACI Titration event. Rosemary said they returned in 2023 fired up to beat their previous results.
“Our team strengths are definitely resilience and persistence!” she said.
“The first time we entered the competition, our results were not as good as we wanted. However, we encouraged each other and kept going and decided to give it another go this year. We attended more training sessions, worked hard, supported each other and we made it!”
She said the time pressure added another level of complexity to the challenge.
“Within a 90-minute time limit, we had to do at least four titrates and perform the correct calculations. As titration requires a lot of concentration and accuracy, we could not afford for our nerves to get the best of us!” Rosemary said.
Jaytita agreed that keeping calm and working well as a team were essential to success. Given her perfect score, she’s demonstrated her ability to think clearly under pressure.
“My result feels surreal and it is an amazing achievement that I did not expect,” she said.
“The most important skill was definitely keeping a steady mind. I made sure to remain calm, even when the experiments weren’t going smoothly, and tried to focus my full concentration on what I was doing in the current moment. The thing I most enjoyed was working in a team; it definitely made the day more memorable. My teammates helped take away the pressure of the competition as we were there to support each other and enjoy the fun experience!” Jaytita said.
Rosemary, Althea and Rhiarna are looking forward to competing at the next level – the national event. Jennifer, Jacqueline and Jaytita may yet qualify for this event, too. A three-hour and more complex task than the one they just conquered awaits them!