There was nothing but smiles all around as 15 Canberra Grammar students worked in teams of three, competing to build the best model dam amongst their peers as part of the EngQuest program.

Cathy Dangar, the Enrichment Coordinator from Canberra Grammar Junior School, arranged for an EngQuest half-day on Friday 26 August, involving 15 Years 3 and 4 students selected to participate.

“The boys thoroughly enjoyed the design process as well as constructing the dam. Some of the boys commented that they liked having the freedom to build without restrictions; the choice of layout was completely up to them. It was definitely a successful day and inspired some to want to become engineers.” Cathy said

The students carefully mapped out National Park boundaries, planted vegetation in their wetlands area, dug out streams with tributaries and constructed mighty dam walls, using paddle pop sticks and pebbles to achieve the title of best model dam.

The EngQuest team from Engineers Australia were blown away by the high level thought-process demonstrated by the students, the strong presence of team work, as well as the level of detail which went into the dams - with some dams even featuring boat ramps, nature walk tracks and fresh water crocodiles.

Volunteer engineer Graeme Kelleher AO, visited the students after the dam building session to share his many experiences from within the field. Graeme spoke about the early stages of his career working on major civil engineering projects within Australia and Canada, as well as his involvement in structural design and construction of some well known Canberra icons, including Commonwealth Bridge and the Corin Dam.

Pointing to his brightly coloured tropical fish tie, Graeme noted it was the ‘official tie of the Great Barrier Reef’ and went onto to explain to the students that he was the first Chairman and CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority- who helped create the largest coral reef aquarium in the world.

Graeme was then chaperoned by the students to their outside courtyard where five model dams awaited assessment and judging by Graeme.

Graeme spent time with each team of students hearing the outcomes of the construction processes undertaken and the results of testing the dams by pouring water into the streams. Graeme came to the conclusion that Linus Kirkwood, Panos Morogiannis and Joshua Gittleman from Year 4 were the overall winners, based on the quality of their dam wall design and slip-way.

Graeme demonstrated to the students that engineering promises an exciting career that can lead to many different places all around the world, as long you keep up your skills in maths and physics. Two students from the group identified themselves to Graeme as being set on becoming engineers. Although it will be many years before we really know which path these students take, we can be humble in knowing that the EngQuest program is a gateway for connecting passionate volunteers from the profession directly with schools. The program goes a long way towards raising awareness of engineering, and hopefully addressing the serious skills shortage the profession faces in Australia today.

EngQuest is Engineers Australia’s free national outreach program, aimed at getting young minds excited about engineering, maths, science and technology. For more information visit; www.engquest.org.au