05 March 2018

Tasmanian students aiming for two national wins in a row

News

This time last year Tasmanian high schools dominated the National Finals of Australia’s biggest STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) competition: the F1inSchools STEM Challenge….and this coming week, at the Launceston Convention Centre, they are aiming for back-to-back victories.

In 2017, Queechy High School from Launceston finished first and third in this event and claimed 10 major awards. A third team from the same school won another two awards.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Queechy High School and Kings Meadows High School from Launceston and St Brendan Shaw School from Devonport have entered five teams against another 25 from across the nation. Over the two days the teams will be judged in 11 criteria from innovative design and collaborating with industry to car speed, marketing and public speaking.

F1inSchools is the world's biggest STEM competition. It is run in Australia by not for profit social enterprise, Re-Engineering Australia Foundation. Each year more than 9,000,000 students from 17,000 schools form teams to design, make and race miniature F1 cars. They are capable of accelerating from 0-80 km/h in under 1 second.

Students are provided with state of the art computer software, special applications like virtual wind tunnel testing, and they have to leave the classroom and collaborate with industry to learn about materials, engineering processes and production techniques. Teams invest hundreds of hours in order to qualify for the National Finals - working after school, in their evenings, weekends and during their holidays.

This is the first time the National Finals have been held in Tasmania and the City of Launceston is sponsoring the event. Another supporter is Bell Bay Aluminium which has made a significant financial contribution to the program over the past decade. Its representative Louise Clark received REA's prestigious John Button Memorial Award from REA Foundation founder, Dr Michael Myers OAM.

YOU ARE INVITED!

2018 NATIONAL FINALS OFFICIAL LAUNCH
TUE 6 | 09.45 AM
LAUNCESTON CONVENTION CENTRE, 50 GLEN DHU STREET

Join the Mayor of Launceston Albert Van Zetten & BBA General Manager Ray Mostogl who will start the event with an on-track race-off!

FOLLOW THE ACTION…

0900-1700 Tue 6th & Wed 7th

  • Meet the teams
  • See the F1 cars racing on the computer timed track
  • Watch students being judged by professional engineers
  • Inspect their multimedia pit displays

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