2022 Northpower EPro8 Challenge Winners Announced
Published 13 May 2022
Whangarei Heads School and Saint Francis Xavier Catholic School have been crowned champions of the 2022 Northpower EPro8 Challenge competition.
In closely fought finals, Whangarei Heads won the Year 7-8 title while St Francis took out the Year 5-6 contest – with both teams successfully building a sound system from a coil, magnets and a cardboard cone. Whangarei Heads also created a tracking spotlight and St Francis built part of an electric drum kit.
Second and third place in the Year 7-8 event went to Mahurangi College and Kamo Intermediate, while Hurupaki Primary was second in the Year 5-6 competition and Kaurihohore School was third.
Around 100 teachers and parents watched the finals and they were treated to a great contest after 18 schools had previously competed in the semi-finals.
Northpower Community Outreach Facilitator Arriane Christie was impressed with the calibre of the finalists.
"I want to congratulate all the students who participated in the EPro8 Challenge, from the school’s internal events to the grand finals, especially the finalists. It is a huge achievement that they can all be very proud of,” she says.
All of the teams displayed great teamwork, dedication, excitement, and drive and it was a real thrill to see young people enjoying themselves while learning."
Northpower can see that sponsoring this event provides a real benefit to students and schools. It gives students a great opportunity to get involved with and learn about science, technology, engineering, and maths practically.”
EPro8 convenor Andrew Thiele was also enthused about the calibre of the students competing.
“Both of our winners built a fully operational speaker system which was pretty good going, to be honest and it was great to be back running our first event for nine months. Kamo Intermediate School hosted the event very well and we appreciated their efforts,” he says.
Because so many schools had run internal events in the lead up to the competition, the students and teachers were really engaged and even better prepared than in previous years. You could see that the extra practice had really helped but this couldn’t have happened without the ongoing support of Northpower."
There was minimal margin between the teams, which made for an exciting finish in the finals. There was a really positive energy in the room. EPro8 is all about giving students opportunities and we are hopeful some schools in the next year will be able to give every student an opportunity to use our EPro8 equipment. We have had really positive feedback from all of the schools so we look forward to being back in Northland in 2023.”
EPro8’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) continues to grow in popularity in Northland, with a record 624 students competing in the series of science and engineering-based events this year – more than double the 232 students from 2021.
Schools that took part in the inter-school round of the 2022 Northpower EPro8 Challenge included: Arapohue School, Bream Bay College, Hurupaki School, Kamo Intermediate, Kaurihohore School, Kokopu School, Mahurangi College, Maungakaramea School, Ngunguru School, Onerahi Primary School, Ruakaka School, Ruawai College, Ruawai School, St Francis Xavier Catholic School, Tauraroa Area School, Tautoro School, Whangarei Heads School, and Whangarei Intermediate.
Schools keen to have a go at EPro8 and include it as part of their STEM learning can use Northpower’s lend kits at any time throughout the year. Get in touch with Arriane Christie at Northpower on 021 587 900.
