In closely fought finals, Hurupaki took out the Year 5-6 contest while Ngunguru School won the Year 7-8 title. Both teams gained the most points by completing challenges in their respective competitions held conjointly last Wednesday evening at Whangarei Boys’ High School.
The winning schools beat both of last year’s champions, with 2023 winners St Francis Xavier Catholic School (Year 5-6) and Kamo Intermediate (Year 7-8) finishing second in their age groups.
Around 50 teachers and parents watched the finals and were treated to a great contest after 58 teams from 26 schools had previously competed in the heats.
The challenges in this year’s finals included building automatically closing curtains, an automated toilet seat, a self-driving lawn mower, and a toaster that popped toast over two metres into the air.
Northpower Community Partnerships Lead Arriane Christie was impressed with the calibre of the competition.
“The teams are a real inspiration, demonstrating great teamwork and drive to get complete the challenges,” she says.
Seeing students learn about science, technology, engineering, and maths, practically, all while having fun and competing is amazing and that is why Northpower loves sponsoring this event.”
“Congratulations to all the students that participated in the EPro8 Challenge from the internal school events to the grand finals.”
The Year 9-10 competition was held last Thursday with Dargaville High School taking out the top spot and qualifying for the senior semifinals in Auckland in August.