NT students compete at national STEM competition Thursday, 03 November 2016

Alice Springs high school students battled it out with seven other top schools from around the country at the recent National Science and Engineering Challenge, held at the University of Tasmania, Hobart.

After 256 days of competition that reached 16,523 secondary school students from 620 schools across Australia, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College represented the Northern Territory at the national event.

In line with Engineers Australia’s top strategic goal to foster “tomorrow’s engineers”, Engineers Australia, Northern General Manager Mark Monaghan said that the Northern Division provided significant financial assistance and other support for the cohort of Alice Springs students to attend the event.

“It is a key strategy in the Northern region to build the profile and support the development of skills in critical and creative thinking, problem solving and innovation through a focus on STEM activity,” Mr Monaghan said.

“These skills are essential in all 21st century occupations and are critical to nation building into the future.

“Building young people’s engagement is not the sole responsibility of education systems – it must be a whole of community approach with industry taking the lead, which will ensure that the engineering fraternity here continues to lead the world in capability.”

The schools battled it out in a range of exciting hands-on activities, including bridge building with minimal materials, that were designed to demonstrate the varied and practical elements of a career in the disciplines of science and engineering.

Acting Science Head of Department at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College Jillian Neyland said that the competition gave students valuable insight into the value of STEM and STEM careers.

“The students have come away with a healthy understanding of how competitive it will be in the science, technology and engineering industries when they leave school, and hopefully this will help motivate them to continue to learn as much as they can in these curriculum areas,” Mrs Neyland said.

“Our young people are reaping the rewards from decades of scientific and technological advances, from nuclear medicine to satellite internet to transport safety, but more than ever our young people are disengaging with the sciences in schools.

“There is a critical need for schools and other education platforms to immerse our students in meaningful learning activities that not only develop skills in the engineering and technology fields, but also cultivate a renewed love of science and maths.”

Year 9 student at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College Hylton Lonsdale said that engineering, and the innovation and creativity that flow from it, is essential to our communities.

“Engineering is all around us, from people who make structures to people who design and make use of engines and machinery,” Mr Lonsdale said.

I like inventing new things, creating new ideas and trying to improve things, and I also like learning the basics of structures and learning why things are designed like they are.”

The challenge, which was held on Friday 21 October, was taken out by St Mary’s High School, Gateshead NSW, with Alice Springs’ Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College placing eighth.

Image: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College students competing at the challenge. Courtesy of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College.