High school students put their building skills to the test on Tuesday during the annual Engineering Challenge at the Evinrude Centre.
More than 150 students from eight high schools in the region were tasked with building a vehicle capable of travelling the farthest along a ramp. They had to use a variety of items such as popsicle sticks, CDs, wiring, glue and elastic bands.
“So we have a test track that has a couple of obstacles and some ramps. In the end, it’s all about how far down, how much energy you can store in an elastic band and then release as your car goes down the track,” said Dan Manns, a member of the Peterborough chapter of the Professional Engineers Ontario.
Molly Matthews, a Holy Cross Secondary School, says it took her group a while to figure out what to build.
“It didn’t work out exactly as we planned it, so we just made some modifications, and now it’s looking pretty good,” she said.
Organizers say the design challenges students in a number of ways, and that the end result reflects more than just design skill.
“Engineering is very collaborative; you’re rarely working alone; you’re always working in a team; everyone has different strengths,” he said. “So especially in an event like this, it’s usually the teams that work the best together that have the best results.”
Logan McComb, of Crestwood Secondary School, said winning isn’t everything at the competition.
“A successful product, that we’re happy with as a team, I think that’s what the victory would be, just creating something that works decently,” he said.
A team from Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School in Peterborough captured first place with second and third place nods going to Adam Scott Collegiate and Lakefield College.
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