St Ursula’s College has won day two of the Darling Downs Science and Engineering Challenge at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba. St Ursula’s will have to wait until Friday to find out if the day two win was enough to claim the champions overall.
With three medals around her neck, student Yentle Rangiira says her team mates were keen for victory. “We are definitely looking to bring that trophy home! Third year in a row, hopefully,” she said. Yentle participated in Grasping at Straws, which saw students design, build and use a bionic hand built from PVC pipe, string, straws, and timber coffee stirrers. “It required a lot of teamwork, working together to make small corrections in order to make the hand move precisely. This event is a great way for high school students to glimpse the science and engineering world, including occupations we may wish to enter when we’re older,” she said.
Two days remain for the Darling Downs Science and Engineering Challenge, with 16 more schools set to test their science and engineering skills in activities such as constructing a water turbine from Styrofoam, plastic and tape. The day two competitors also got a chance to check out renewable energy company Acciona’s electric rally car. It is the first time the vehicle, famous for being the first zero-emissions vehicle to complete the cross-country rally in Dakar in 2017, has been brought to Australia.
The Science and Engineering Challenge is presented by the University of Newcastle in cooperation with Defence Force Recruiting, Nexus Infrastructure, Rotary Toowoomba East, Toowoomba Regional Council, Engineers Australia, Ashburner Francis Consulting Engineers, Buchanan Advanced Composites and Downey Engineering.
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