THE Coffs Coast Science and Engineering Challenge (SEC) event on Tuesday 8 April brought together around 240 Year 10 students from seven public and one private school to test their wits across eight challenges.
The SEC is a nationwide Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outreach program presented by the University of Newcastle in partnership with communities, Rotary clubs, universities and sponsors.
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The local SEC is held at Wiigulga Sports Complex, with this year’s school teams comprising the usual mix of 55 percent females and 45 percent males.
The Coffs Harbour High School team won the day, placing it in a pool of schools now eligible to attend the state finals later in the year – depending on all the winning scores from the other SECs conducted in NSW.
Most challenges take around half a day with a changeover at lunchtime.
The Bridge Buster is a whole-day challenge.
Students are set the task of making a bridge from balsa and masking tape, with the construction load tested by a weighted trolley.
Introduced for the region this year was the Eco-Habitech, another full-day activity where teams build a model home to withstand wind and water, while being ecologically friendly.
Introduced last year in collaboration with DeadlyScience, is Fish Traps, which is devised to bring awareness to environmental sustainability and caring for Country.
It is inspired by the fish traps around Brewarrina and Newcastle.
University staff coordinated the event supported by around 50 local volunteers, including Woolgoolga, Coffs Daybreak and Sawtell Rotarians, community members, retired engineers, high school representatives, and eight engineers and other staff from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and the Ferrovial Gamuda Coffs Harbour Bypass team.
“This is the third year we have used Wiigulga, and it is a fantastic venue, with their staff going beyond to ensure the success of the event,” Rotary Club of Sawtell spokesperson Peter Paff told News Of The Area.
All volunteers are trained for the purpose and have time to experience the challenges in advance.
A pre-event dinner was attended by community members, volunteers, and Rotarians.
Guest speaker was Ferrovial Gamuda’s Tom Patterson who shared the experience of building structures for the Coffs Harbour bypass, which encompasses about eight kilometres of noise walls and 21 bridges, and the new architecturally designed Luke Bowen pedestrian bridge.
“The whole event was terrific, bringing together many different organisations and people from various backgrounds who all strive to make a difference in young people’s lives and introduce the students to science and engineering as a career,” Mr Paff said.
Most challenges can be seen on the university’s website. Just search for “science and engineering challenge”.
By Andrea FERRARI
