Eight engineering students from UTC Leeds attended the Rotary International Challenge 2019. The event, held at the John Charles Centre for Sport, is a five-hour engineering challenge based on real life issues. The teams try and solve a practical problem which requires them to work together to design, develop, build and test a model from the limited resources supplied, such as dowel, strips of wood and tape. The results are assessed by a small panel of Rotarians and industrialists.
This year the students were tasked with producing a structure to be used in an advertisement for a Rotary International charity.
UTC Leeds student, Summar, who took part on the day, explained the brief: “We had to design a beacon that had a flashing light on it. We also had to build a structure which held the beacon at its highest point, so it could be seen from far away.”
Speaking about the challenge, Summar added, “This was a challenge which allowed us to show how we can work together to plan and build projects. We could use our engineering skills, applying them to the task, and use our knowledge to help real life problems. Throughout the day we used power drills and saws to bring the project along. We had to communicate with each other and help each other out to ensure our project was the best that it could be. We had lots of fun and it was an eye-opening experience.”
Although the teams were not placed, they gained experience of using their technical and professional skills acquired from college. This is just one example of the employer partnership activities offered to students at UTC Leeds.
