An energetic — and at times tense — in-school engineering showdown on April 2 saw four Middle School teams rise to the challenge to represent Aquinas College at the EPro8 Engineering Interschool Competition next term.
The event determined the top two teams from both Year 7–8 and Year 9–10. Despite some early technical hiccups, teams dived into the building challenges with full enthusiasm. It’s a shame we can’t take more of them to interschools — there was outstanding teamwork and communication on display. Reading the instructions, however, was not exactly trending, and as the deadline neared and three teams sat tied for second place with five minutes to go… let’s just say the tension was real.
Special shout-out to Scrigma (Year 8’s George McKinnon, Johan Mathew, Justin Moon, and Wooseong Kim), who snagged third place and a prize but narrowly missed qualifying for the next round. Finishing 10 points ahead in second place was 4-1=0 (Becky Liang and Daisy Kim (Yr 8) with superstar Year 7 ring-ins Laon Seo and Maverick Damasco).
Taking top honours and proving that persistence (and a few cheeky legal arguments) pays off was Year 8’s Team Techno — Zachary de Graaf, Brayden Nix, Alex Smyth, and Jake Osbaldiston.
On we march to interschools…
Here’s when and where you can catch our talented teams in action:
🛠 Year 11–13:
📍 Tauranga Girls’ College
📅 Tuesday 7 May, 5:00pm
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Team 1 (Yr 13): Jordan Kay (subtituting for Monique Faire), Jake Bollee, Ture Hansson, Shiloh Bantugan
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Team 2 (Yr 11): Ben Talbot, Oliver Laurie, Patrick Nelis, Jin Tumbokon
🛠 Year 9–10:
📍 Tauranga Girls’ College
📅 Wednesday 8 May, 5:00pm
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Team 1 (Yr 9): Jackson McHugh, Rylan Hardisty, Harrison Avery, Isaac Collett
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Team 2 (Yr 10): Adrian Adelaide, Oliver Marr, Jamie Robinson, Eamon Rogers
🛠 Year 7–8:
📍 Ōtūmoetai Intermediate
📅 Monday 13 May, 5:00pm
Best of luck to all teams representing Aquinas — we can’t wait to see what you build next!
