Community
2 May, 2023
Building bridges for futures in engineering
CAIRNS State High School has emerged as the overall winners of this year’s James Cook University science and engineering challenge, an event designed to inspire the problem solvers of the future.
More than 220 school students from seven high schools tackled challenges from designing biomechanical hands to constructing and testing bridges at JCU’s Nguma-bada campus at Smithfield last Friday.
Future student advisor Cameron Murphy said the challenge aimed to encourage year 10 high school students to consider careers in science and engineering, and to choose subjects such as maths, physics, engineering and chemistry in years 11 and 12.
“The challenge is part of a nationwide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) outreach program, administered by the University of Newcastle,” he said.
“Students worked on various projects for the day, in competition against students from other schools. After the final challenge – to build a bridge that could support the heaviest load – the judges tallied up the days points and congratulated everyone on a close-run competition.
