Selected students from Waterfront UTC competed in the Strood Rotary Tournament hosted at the Royal Engineers Museum. Three teams competed against students from other local schools in a design and construct task based on engineering principles.

All teams were given the task to design and build a cable car like device that could carry a supply package across a river. Foundation teams were expected to successfully manoeuvre their cable car from one side to the other, while intermediate teams needed to manoeuvre the cable car across the river and drop a supply package. Advanced teams however, were tasked to manoeuvre their device across the river, drop a supply package and return back.

It was fantastic to see high levels of enthusiasm and brainstorming throughout, especially when students realised they needed to engineer a switch to power their cable cars.

Before we even stopped for lunch, the models were starting to take shape with supporting portfolios and were looking promising for the testing stages. You could hear the clapping of hands and cheering coming from students as they began testing their models and you could see and hear the competitiveness in the room.

Later, all groups were asked to demonstrate their final products to the judges, where the majority were able to deliver what was expected. After a tense, nail biting wait while the judges deliberated, our advanced team knocked it out the park and took the win for their category! The judges complimented their efforts stating they hit the brief at every point and had a very clear run throughout the entire day!