Aurecon shines a limelight on student engineering

Aurecon shines a limelight on student engineering talent uncovered at annual bridge building competitions, Australia and New Zealand

Auckland’s Pukekohe Christian School was crowned New Zealand’s bridge building champion. Students Hamish, Jack and Jason constructed the winning bridge that withstood an outstanding load of 78.1kg on competition day. The trio were motivated to get involved in the competition through a shared curiosity for Engineering and the opportunity to explore the industry as a possible career path.

“Competition day was a lot of fun. It was really interesting to see how all the different structures behaved and how much effort it took to break them,” commented the team.

“There’s a lot of thinking and experimentation that goes into bridge building so it’s very exciting to see that all of our hard work paid off and was rewarded with a win.”

The national title winning bridges were but two of hundreds of bridges designed and constructed by high school students across Australia and New Zealand. Judges were wowed by the extremely high level of ingenuity and creativity brought to the competition’s 11 locations.

“Aurecon’s Bridge Building Competition has been running for 10 years now but it never ceases to amaze me just how bright and dexterous the competitors are,” comments Bill Cox, Aurecon’s Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand.

“It’s an honour and a real pleasure to observe how clever, young minds engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics in such a challenging and stimulating learning environment.”

The 2015 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition international overall winners are as follows:

First Prize
Kaniva College, Victoria, Australia
147.5kg

Second Prize
Baldivis Secondary College, Perth, Australia
Team ‘Boomer Bridge’, 98.15kg

Third Prize
John Paul College, Brisbane, Australia
Team JPC # 2, 93.3kg

Congratulations to the students, teachers, supporters, judges and Aurecon staff who made the 2015 competition one of the best in Aurecon bridge building history!

ENDS

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