From October 27 to 31, the final round of the 18th “Challenge Cup” National College Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition took place at Guizhou University. This year’s “Challenge Cup” attracted over 2,000 colleges and universities, over 400,000 works, and over 2.5 million students to participate in the competition. After fierce competition, WHSU won one first prize and two second prizes in the main competition, and one second prize in the Red Special Event, which created the best result in the number of national prizes in a single session since WHSU participated in the “Challenge Cup” competition. It was also the first time for WHSU to win the first prize of “Challenge Cup”.
The first prize work is “Never Say Too Late Because of Old Age, Make Changes to Fit the Twilight Years”: The Study of Elderly Friendly Alteration of Outdoor Fitness Equipment in Urban Communities -- A Study Based on 197 Communities in 28 Cities of 8 Provinces, an investigation report of philosophy and social sciences (People’s Livelihood and Well-being) completed by the School of Sports Engineering and Information Technology. This project aims at resolving the outstanding contradictions between current personalized fitness needs of the elderly and the slow development of sports public service. The investigation is carried out to clarify the barriers that hinder elderly friendly alteration of outdoor fitness equipment, find out the deep-rooted problems, put theory into practice, and verify the scientific nature in real scenarios. Original elderly friendly outdoor fitness equipment design principle are developed, realizing a leap from “available” to “excellent” in outdoor fitness equipment.
The second prize projects were completed by the School of Sports Training. They are “Let Children Run”: Measuring the Effectiveness of Physical Activities for Children and Adolescents and Optimizing the Path -- Based on the National Investigation and Analysis of “Happy Run”, an investigation report of philosophy and social sciences (The Governance of China), and Strategic Choices of Traditional Chinese National Sports Events in Schools -- A Survey Study Based on Innovative Practices in 25 Kindergartens and Primary Schools in 9 Cities and 5 Provinces, an investigation report of philosophy and social sciences (Civilization and Culture).
WHSU attached great importance to the organization of the “Challenge Cup”. Since the launch of this year’s “Challenge Cup” in September 2022, the leadership came to guide the entries several times and encouraged the team. With the strong support from relevant functional units, and all schools’ in-depth and extensive mobilization and publicity, and after the university competition, the provincial competition and the national preliminary evaluation sessions, the three works submitted by WHSU were selected as finalists, which is a new high in the number of finalists in the national competition for WHSU. During the period, the Youth League Committee of WHSU carefully organized the “Challenge Cup” work as the annual focus of special work and set up a special work group to provide all-round guarantee for the preparation of the participating projects for the national competition.
The “Challenge Cup” National College Student Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition has been held every two years since 1989 and 18 consecutive sessions have been organized. With the tenet of “advocating science, pursuing true knowledge, studying hard, innovating and meeting challenges”, the competition, after over 30 years of development, has become a practice platform for young students, a second classroom for cultivating their scientific spirit, and a tangible carrier for enhancing the collaborative ability and collective concepts of young students, and has been regarded as the “Olympics” of scientific and technological innovation for contemporary college students.
