Bournemouth and Poole College students celebrate another trophy for their cabinet as Matt Light and Ben Hawes win the Poole District Rotary Technology Tournament 2014. The competition took place at Corfe Hills School in March and saw approximately 20 teams compete in 3 categories; Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.
Matt and Ben, who are currently working for Heatric as part of their first year initial apprenticeship programme, were teamed with two other students from St Edward’s School in the advanced category. The team of four were up against five other teams, and had 3 hours to plan, design, produce and test a piece of equipment to solve a problem.
The challenge, which was not revealed until the day of the tournament, was to design a piece of equipment that could remove a ball from an enclosed space through a 125mm square gap. The ball was then to be placed 1.5m away from the team members.
The teams were to complete the challenge in six stages including design development, a project portfolio and a testing stage. They were also given a list of methods and techniques that they might use to complete their task.
Steve Paynter, lecturer in the Engineering Skills department, was thrilled by their success.
‘For a long time now we have submitted teams into the Rotary Tournament. This year impressively, the teams did well with apprentices from Heatric shining through to take the trophy along with St Edward’s School. Good teamwork and problem solving skills were evident whilst positively reinforcing the good name of Bournemouth and Poole College. We take immense pride in the achievements of the apprentices and all students who study on an engineering program and I believe this demonstrates our commitment to supporting the students....and winning!’
Nigel Crompton, Motor Vehicle Instructor at The College also accompanied the apprentices to the event.
