12 November 2014: Leading Australian property company, PAYCE stepped in at the last minute to help a team of students from Engadine High School make it to the start line in this year’s State Finals of the FI in Schools Challenge after winning the Development Class in the Sutherland Shire Regional finals.
The team of five Year 8 students from Engadine High School, which calls itself Team Mass Acceleration, was one of 32 teams from NSW metropolitan and rural schools competing in this year’s Development Class at the State Finals.
The members of Team Mass Acceleration comprised James Mitreski, Samuel Lynch, Lukas Foyle, Sean Sultana and Jacob Bornholdt.
The National Finals were held over three days last week at the University of Western Sydney and while they missed out on the major title, Team Mass Acceleration won Best Verbal Presentation along with Best Industry Collaboration and the Knock-Out Competition.
The F1 in Schools Challenge is an international competition open to high school students around the world. The competition has been running for over a decade and more than 30 countries currently compete annually in a range of age classes. Winners of State Finals go on to compete in the National Finals, with the opportunity to represent their country at the World Finals.
Teams have to design and build a miniature racing car body from balsa wood, following a strict set of rules and using computer software specifically designed for the competition. The cars are powered by a cylinder of CO2 gas and race against other teams’ cars on a twenty metre long two-lane track from a standing start.
In addition to constructing and racing their car, each team is required to produce a design portfolio as well as a pit display, marketing plan and make a verbal presentation to the judging panel.
PAYCE’s General Manager, Dominic Sullivan said he was very impressed with Engadine High School’s enthusiasm and past successes, leading PAYCE to offer to help out with a shortfall in funding to ensure the school’s team made it to this year’s State Finals.
PAYCE’s Managing Director, Brian Boyd said the Engadine school community could be justly proud of its school’s record in the competition, winning National titles in 2012 and 2013 and the Shire’s regional final in 2014. “I’ve had a long-time interest in motorsport and I only wish something like the F1 in Schools Challenge had been around in my school days,” he said.
“F1 in Schools is a fantastic competition that involves students in a range of activities, including engineering, marketing, public speaking, time management and teamwork,” he said.
“One Australian student from Sydney went on to work for the very successful Red Bull Formula 1 team as an aerodynamics engineer, so you never know where this competition can take you.
“It’s been a great effort by the team this year and the experience and determination will be invaluable when they compete in the higher level Professional Class next year.
‘’I am pleased to announce that PAYCE will once again be there to lend support to the team in 2015,” Brian Boyd said.
Engadine High School’s maths teacher, Ben Leffley, has been involved with the Challenge for the past three years and has been working with the team since the beginning of the year.
“On behalf of the team and the school, I would like to thank PAYCE for stepping in at short notice to help us out this year and for offering ongoing support in 2015,” he said.
“As a business and industry leader and great supporter of local community events in the Shire, PAYCE is a welcome and valued addition to our project team,” he said.
