Budding science students take on the Challenge

Over 1400 high school students with an interest in science and engineering took part in the Ausgrid Newcastle Science and Engineering Challenge last week.

This year it was held on campus for the first time at the Forum Sports and Aquatic Centre with 40 local schools taking part in the activities that ran for the week from July 22 to July 26.

Since it was founded in 2000 by the University of Newcastle, the program has become a national event that engages more than 800 schools, 22,000 high school students and 30 universities annually.

"The Science and Engineering Challenge addresses the skills shortage in science and engineering by inspiring young people to study mathematics, physics and chemistry in senior high school," said Science and Engineering Challenge Director, Dr Terry Burns.

"The Challenge also gives students an appreciation of what it would be like to work as an engineer or a scientist," he added.

Students were broken into school groups on the day to take part in a range of science and engineering tasks. Some friendly competition spurred the groups along and they were able to compete against each other to see which designs survived the daily Bridge Competition Final.

The Challenge aims to address the decline in science literacy and encourage students to pursue a career in science or engineering.

"The University of Newcastle's excellence in the areas of science and engineering enables us to create a rich learning environment for our Challenge participants and we are consistently impressed with the students' ingenuity and design," said Terry.

The following schools from the Newcastle region will progress through to the Northern NSW Super Challenge taking place from August 13 to 15 at the Forum:

• Toronto High School
• St Pius X High School
• All Saints College St. Peter's Campus
• St. Mary’s High School
• Belmont Christian College