Northland students compete in science, technology, engineering and maths competition EPro8

(From left): Kamo Intermediate School’s Tate Nelson, Caleb Mills, Bryan Cremer and Liam White after winning the Year 7 - 8 final at the Northpower EPro8 Challenge competition.

Teams of Northland students have been battling it out to find some of the region’s top Stem (science, technology, engineering, and maths) exponents at the Northpower EPro8 Challenge.

And after an intense tussle, Kamo Intermediate School and St Francis Xavier Catholic School have been crowned champions of the 2023 Northpower EPro8 Challenge competition.

In closely fought finals, Kamo Intermediate won the Year 7 - 8 title, while St Francis took out the Year 5 - 6 contest. Both teams gained the most points by completing challenges in their respective competitions, which were held at Whangārei Boys’ High School last week.

The challenges included building a pendulum clock, a car wash, a rat wheel to generate electricity and a lightning detector.

Around 70 teachers and parents watched the finals, and were treated to a great contest after 64 teams from 22 schools had previously competed in the heats and semifinals.

Northpower community outreach facilitator Arriane Christie was impressed with the calibre of the finalists.

“All of the teams displayed great teamwork, excitement and drive, and it was great to see young people enjoying themselves while competing and learning,” Christie said.

“Northpower can see that sponsoring this event provides a real benefit to students and schools. It gives students a wonderful opportunity to get involved with and learn about science, technology, engineering and maths, but in a practical way.

“I want to congratulate all the students that participated in the EPro8 Challenge, from the school’s internal events to the grand finals, and especially the finalists. It is a huge achievement that they can all can be proud of.”

The runners-up in the finals were Arapohue School and Whangārei Heads School, which were joint-second in the Year 7 - 8 bracket, while in the Year 5 - 6 final, One Tree Point School was second, with St Francis Xavier Catholic School in third.

It was also the first time that a secondary inter-school competition has been run in Northland, with Year 9 - 10s and Year 11 - 13s competing last week, with Whangārei Boys’ High School taking out both competitions.