| Bowral High School students proudly display their trophy as winners o... Bowral High School students proudly display their trophy as winners of day one of the ‘High School Challenge’. Pictured (on the left) with the students are one of the competition’s local organisers Dr Stephen Pan, Head Teacher of Science at Bowral High School, Tim Flaus, and Jim Navmovski, representing one of the competition’s sponsors, CSC GIS Global Solutions and Technology | 
| Pictured ahead of the ‘High School Challenge’ are (from l... Pictured ahead of the ‘High School Challenge’ are (from left) Mr Peter Charker representing Rotary; competition local organiser Mr Stephen Petrou; Regional Chair of the Illawarra and South East Challenge Co-ordinating Committee, Professor Fazel Naghdy; UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton; and local competition organiser, Dr Stephen Pan | 
| An overview photo showing eight of the 13 schools which participated ... An overview photo showing eight of the 13 schools which participated on day one of the ‘High School Challenge’ |
Bowral High School wins day one of ‘High School Challenge’
25 Jun 2008 | Bernie Goldie
The second ‘High School Challenge’ – being held at the University of Wollongong Hall on 25 June and 26 June – has expanded so quickly that it has to be held over two days with more than 400 students from 13 schools participating.
Day one of the event today saw Bowral High School score the highest total of points in the competition against seven other schools to claim victory. The remaining five schools will do battle tomorrow.
The inaugural event was held in November last year drawing 224 students for the day’s activities but the Illawarra and South East Challenge will now settle into its permanent annual timeslot of June. This year schools from the Illawarra, Southern Sydney, Nowra and the Southern Highlands are competing.
The aim of the event is to encourage more students to undertake science and mathematics in high schools and organisers are particularly pleased to see two all girls’ schools competing – Wollongong’s St Mary’s Star of the Sea and Frensham from Mittagong.
“We need to address the critical shortage of scientists and engineers in Australia and events like this challenge will help boost numbers emerging from schools into these fields,” according to the Regional Chair of the Illawarra and South East Challenge Co-ordinating Committee, Professor Fazel Naghdy, of UOW’s Faculty of Informatics. This year three faculties from UOW are assisting in running the challenge event – Informatics, Engineering and Science.
The Rotary Club of Wollongong and UOW are providing all the volunteer supervisors. The Challenge is run in conjunction with Engineers Australia and the University of Newcastle’s Faculty of Science and Information Technology and its Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment.
Professor Naghdy said that the Challenge was a lot of fun for the students who participate and provides them with an insight into the working world of science and engineering.
The local co-ordinator of the Challenge, Dr Zengxi (Stephen) Pan, said the students are allocated one or two tasks for the day and they are assessed as to how well they complete these tasks and compete with students from other schools. The tasks may include building and flying an airship, solving a mystery maze or building a chair for a three kilogram doll.
Dr Pan said that the Challenge represented a unique opportunity for young people in our community.
“The hands-on competitive nature of the Challenge allows students to experience the creative side of science and engineering in a fun atmosphere. It is aimed mainly at Year 10 students but schools are welcome to include younger children to make up teams.
This year’s Challenge is sponsored by CSC GIS Global Solutions and Technology, Tyree Industries, BlueScope Steel and the Roads and Traffic Authority.
For further information see the Challenge website at
http://www.elec.uow.edu.au/challenge/Overview.php
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