Four year 10 students are preparing for the chance to win £10,000 in the Blackpool and Fylde STEM Young Engineers final.
Helen, David, Owen and Elise, were specially selected by teachers to take part in the competition run by young, local engineers and sponsored by Centrica Energy. The students were selected due to their ability to work well as a team and think outside the box.
The pupils were given no information about the task until they arrived on the day of the competition, but sailed through to the final after being asked to create an object that could travel the furthest distance by wind power. Competing against 19 other schools from the Blackpool and Fylde area the students had less than four hours to create their machine.
Owen said: “All we were told is that we had to create a vehicle that would move in the wind in a straight-line and that we needed to get it to travel as far as possible. We decided to make the base a triangle shape to make the vehicle more streamline as well as adding a big sail to help push it along.”
The Carr Hill team finished in the top five schools and as a result the students will compete in the final as one of the top ten schools in the area. The final will take place on 6th March, with a top prize of £10,000 on offer.
Helen said: “It would be amazing to win the competition and the money for our school. It would make a huge difference to the STEM team and other pupils for years to come. We will certainly give it our best shot.”
Elise and David are sure that the key to success in the final is teamwork. David said: “Our strategy is to work together.” Whilst Elise added: “We will make sure each member of the team has a clear role in order to help us to accomplish whatever is asked of us.”
As with the previous round the task for the final will not be disclosed until the day of the final. All the students have been told is that it will involve an extra “twist” or extension activity. Good luck to Helen, David, Owen and Elise!
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