Students from St Peter’s College school have won the years 9-10 category in the 2018 Vector Epro8 challenge, a science and engineering competition in which almost half of the Auckland region’s schools took part. 

The team, named High Voltage, beat 98 other teams to claim the top spot at the finals event last week at Mission Heights Junior College. 

The win follows a marathon second year for the Vector EPro8 Challenge, where teams from 213 schools across Auckland competed in 82 science and technology challenges. 

Vector Chief Digital Officer Nikhil Ravishankar says the company sponsors the Auckland leg of the competition to help engage students with engineering as a career. 

“The competition gets students excited about technology and engineering and that’s really inspiring. These students face a world dominated by technology and innovation where problem solving skills will be crucial. We look forward to seeing some of them in a few years’ time as our future engineers and technology specialists.” says Mr Ravishankar.

First organised by brothers Kelvin and Andrew Thiele three years ago, the competition has been growing strongly. 

“My inspiration was basically thinking about what my dream event would have been back when I was 11 years old,” says Kelvin Thiele.

“It’s incredibly rewarding seeing what the students achieve. I love it when you tell them what the challenges will be – half of the teams look excited and half look scared. But by the end of the event they have all achieved something very impressive.”

Each team is based at a workstation containing equipment that is designed and 3D printed specifically for the Vector EPro8 Challenge.

2016 was the first year that Auckland schools were involved with 91 schools taking part. Nationwide in 2017, more than 7,000 students from 700 schools took part in a series of 230 engineering competitions. 

2018 Vector EPro8 Challenge winners Yr 9-10

1^st – St Peter’s College
 2^nd – Saint Kentigern College
 3^rd – Tuakau College