Problem-solving task for secondary students

Students from five West Norfolk schools tested their technology skills when they took part in an annual Rotary challenge.Held last month at King’s Lynn Academy (KLA), the secondary schools taking part were KLA, King Edward VII (KES), Springwood High in Lynn, Smithdon High at Hunstanton and Marshland High at West Walton.The tournament was organised by King’s Lynn Priory Rotary Club in which 96 students competed in teams of four with the objective of creating a model space capsule launcher using a limited range of construction materials.

Teams had to find their way around how to build the launch rig, how to propel the capsule vertically up and how to return it to the launch pad area.

Priory Rotary’s Derek Stringer, the event organiser, said it was very encouraging to see these 24 groups of young people working closely together as a team tackling some very demanding technical issues in order to reach their best possible collective outcomes.

“We saw miniature space capsules leaping three metres in the air, often in a vertical trajectory but occasionally one would veer off in the direction of Venus and Mars.”

The winning team in the Foundation Category was Springwood comprising Ola Mereczynska, Samual Mc Hale, Rose Stewart and Lilly-Grace Pightling. The Intermediate Category was also won by Springwood’s Nathan Pimlot, Daisy Stapleton, Kacper Debski and Annie Overton.The Advanced Category went to KES’ Caiman Drake, Holly Faversham, Gabriela Jakoniuk and Erin Cheng.The event sponsors, North Lynn’s Bespak, were represented at the event by Darren Hodkinson, chief operating officer, Shaun Williams, product engineering manager and Adam Cork, apprentice mechanical engineer who were part of the judging team. Mr Hodkinson presented the winners and runner-up with their team and individual trophies.He said: “I want to congratulate Priory Rotary Club for putting on this excellent event. The kind of task that the students have had to work on under the pressure of time and defined resources in this tournament replicates the challenges which our staff at Bespak have to face on a day-to-day basis.“It has been so rewarding to see these young people working so effectively in their small teams. Congratulations to all the participants, they have all achieved something very important today in their development towards their chosen careers, and hopefully some will choose engineering in some form or other.”