Beacon shines a light on Perse pupils at Rotary Technology Tournament

13 Feb 2020

A group of Year 9 pupils took part in the annual Rotary Technology Tournament, alongside eight other teams from five Cambridge schools.

The pupils were set a challenge to design, construct and test a flashing light positioned on a beacon at the highest point. The system required a device to make the light flash without manual interaction once an initial switch had been pressed. The structure had to include an advertisement displayed on a billboard mounted on the beacon. The students were required to produce a portfolio of their design work, as well as design, build and test it with a limited kit of materials, all in just three hours.

Each year a new engineering challenge is set, usually involving woodwork, electronics and application of the laws of physics. The challenges give students a taste of what engineering is like in the real world, where they may not have the luxury of time, where there are tight deadlines and where budgets are limited.

All of the students did extremely well, especially ‘Perse Team 1’ of Henry Hodges, Yolanda Xue, Olivia Heath and Stefanos Narinian, who also won an award for design and innovation. Congratulations also go to ‘Perse Team 2’ of Katie Richards, Kuan Lin, Sanjana Bhatnagar, and Sergio Arcidiacono for completing the challenge.