Auckland girls’ school sets new engineering record

12 August 2016

Auckland girls’ school sets new engineering record at bridge building competition

Two students from Diocesan School for Girls constructed a bridge which held over 300 kg of weight at the recent Aurecon Bridge Building Competition in Auckland. The load weight was unprecedented at the annual competition, exceeding the load cell’s capacity.

The Team Stirling the Brave from Diocesan School for Girls

Students Anneke Cummack and Jemima Po won both the Strength and Efficiency Awards for designing the bridge which held the maximum weight before failure; and the highest strength-to-weight ratio, respectively.

The students are thrilled with their wins and were enthusiastic about being involved in the competition.

"We loved everything! It was amazing seeing the variety of designs at the competition and talking to different teams about their processes."

This year, 14 schools and 37 teams from Auckland and the Waikato region participated in the competition.
The Aurecon Bridge Building Competition helps some 1 000 Year 9 and Year 10 college students across New Zealand and Australia bring their ideas to life by encouraging them to develop their understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by building a bridge using icy pole sticks, string, glue and cardboard.

Cummack explains, "We are both now looking at careers involving science, in the STEM fields. The competition has provided a valuable experience that we both thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from. It has contributed towards our interest in engineering and other science fields by giving a fun, competitive and educational taster.”

Similarly, Po says, “It was inspiring to see other designs, the famous bridges on the screen and the Aurecon engineers' bridges – it got me thinking about further adding to my passion for and interest in science."

Diocesan School for Girls’ Head of Physics, Rob Boasman, says that the Aurecon Bridge Building Competition is integrated into its curriculum.

“We’ve been involved over several years, but started again with a real focus last year. The bridge building has been a part of our Advanced Science Club programme which is meant to run each Friday lunchtime, but ended up being every day, morning, noon and night as well as in the holidays.”

Boasman continues, “Ultimately the bridge building competition has developed a real passion for engineering in our students and an awareness of the possible career pathways in this field. It not only develops the students understanding of structures, forces and materials, but it also builds inquisitiveness, scientific methodology, team building and communication skills, as well as has helped them to become more aware of the history and appreciation of global engineering.”

Teams from three Auckland and Waikato schools were selected for their winning designs in the Auckland finals of the competition which was held at Alexandra Race Park, Thursday 4 August. The winners are:

• All-Rounder Award – Ngaruawahia High School – Team Bridget
• Strength Award – Diocesan School For Girls – Team Stirling the Brave
• Efficiency Award – Diocesan School For Girls – Team Stirling the Brave
• Innovation Award – St Peter’s College, Epsom – Team The Suspense

Aurecon’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, William Cox, says, “Aurecon believes that by enabling students to get hands on and learn the basic principles of engineering, our global engineering organisation is helping to proactively develop Australia and New Zealand’s next generation of engineers.”

STEM subjects are the building blocks for the inquisitive, adventurous and inventive to make engineering and technology work, but are also considered to be an important building block for the future of the New Zealand economy.

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