It was a battle of the practical brains last week, as school children from around the district tried to outsmart each other in the EPro8 Challenge.

Twenty teams, made up of three or four children, competed at Oamaru Intermediate School, on Wednesday (March 29) and Thursday (March 30) last week. The top three place-getters in the year 5/6 and the year 7/8 categories will travel to Dunedin for regional finals this Wednesday and Thursday (April 5 and 6).

Kelvin Thiele, one of the two event founders, said they launched the EPro8 Challenge in Wellington in 2015, and first brought it south in 2017.

“We haven’t run any events here for the last three years, for obvious reasons. Then Network Waitaki came on board, and contacted me at the end of last year, and said ‘we’re really keen on having you here again’,’’ Kelvin said.

The schools all ran their own internal events first, in essentially the same format, but with not quite the same range of equipment. The equipment was sent to the schools, and the top two or three teams from each school went on to compete at last week’s interschool.

The top three teams in the year 5 and 6 age group were Wahine Toa from Waimate Main School and Centennial Champions from Waimate Centennial School, who placed first and second, while The Pickled Onions from Weston School came third. 

EPro8 Challenge organiser Kelvin Thiele presents winners Weston for the Win (from left) Sydney Winders, Catriona Schoneveld, and Maggie Golding, from Weston School, with the year 7/8 category of the competition, held last week. PHOTO: Supplied.

In the year 7 and 8 category Weston School’s, Weston for the Win, placed first; Papakaio School’s, Papakaio 1, placed second; and two Oamaru Intermediate teams - OIS Yr 7 and OIS Yr 8 - came third equal. 

Teams were able to choose from four different builds, such as creating a spinning rat wheel, which generated enough electricity to power a light. 

They had two-and-a-half hours to complete various stages of the builds and accumulate points.

Kelvin said he came up with the idea of the EPro8 Challenge “because it sounded fun”.

“It was, what would be my dream event when I was 11 years old, kind of thing, and it sort of developed from there.

“We’ve kept developing it now. When I look at what we had when we started, the equipment’s matured quite a bit with what we’re doing now - in the format and stuff - it’s pretty slick now, what we’re doing.”

The children were “wired the same way” as he was, so when he and his partner were designing the challenges, they tried to think of what would create that spark in them as far as engineering goes, he said.

Network Waitaki customer and community relations manager Michelle MacLean said the company was delighted to sponsor an event that enhanced children’s learning.

“We’ve got a lot of future little engineers here. 

“The talent these students have is just amazing, and it’s great to give them an opportunity to get a turn to use that talent really,” she said. “It’s just incredible what they can achieve.”

Weston School teacher Sarah Newton said one of her year 7 team members, who missed out on a place in the regional finals in a four-way tiebreaker for third, told her the event had been “the best night, and the worst, but mostly the best night” of his life.

“And, seeing the girls’ grins this morning [after winning the year 7/8 category], they’re still just on an absolute high from the challenges they completed last night,” she said.

Papakaio School year 6 team (from left) Kaitlyn Singleton, William Miers, Ellen Elliott and Toby Corry work on their car wash challenge, while EPro8 Challenge creator and judge Kelvin Thiele offers advice. PHOTO: Ashley Smyth