On Saturday August 4th seven Nayland Year 12 and 13 students competed in the annual New Zealand Engineering Science Competition through Auckland university. This was an all-day problem-solving team event for senior students interested in Mathematics and Science. Prizes up for grab are first prize at $6,000, and there are two runner-up prizes of $2,000.

This was a day long competition where the students were given the following open-ended question:

How many tonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided in your lifetime if New Zealand transitions to a completely electric vehicle fleet?

Our students pooled their skills in mathematics, physics, computing, logical thinking, writing and team work to answer the problem in a nine-page report.

We had a team of four: Merlyn Barrer, Matthew Suter, Ruben Castaing, Daniel Burrough and a team of three: Matthew Edmonds, April Clarke, Bryn Sussex. Both teams successfully completed a report and submitted it in the last 10 minutes of the competition.

For me, watching this group of intelligent, mature, creative and hard-working young people reinforced why I am a teacher. It is really exciting to see how our youth tackle a problem and step up to the plate using all the skills they have been learning over their time at Nayland. There we periods of chaos, laughter, and quiet concentration throughout the day.

Well done and good luck in the judging!

Andrea Adair
Assistant Head of Learning Area - Mathematics