Students light up Royston Rotary Club's technology tournament

TECH-TASTIC students from Crow Country came up trumps in a technology tournament.

The third annual Royston Technology Tournament, organised by Royston Rotary Club, took place at the Cambridge Motel.

Eighty participating students from Greneway, Roysia, Ralph Sadleir, and Edwinstree middle schools, and The Meridian School and Freman College, were divided into teams and set the task of building a beacon to light up an advertising hoarding using a designated set of materials.

Event manager Chris Hardy explained: "In the case of the basic tournament, for younger children, the light had to flash at least once with bonus points being collected for additional flashes. In the advanced tournament for the older pupils, the light had to flash 10 times with a frequency of one second."

A panel of judges, made up of Rotarians and representatives of local technological companies, assessed the teams throughout the day on the basis of team work, brainstorming, planning, execution and the final working model.

The Johnson Matthey Trophy for overall design and innovation went to the Roysia School C Team, who also won the first prize in the Basic Tournament. They picked up a �100 prize for their school.

Buntingford's Freman College A Team took the second prize of �75 and Roysia B Team the third prize of �50. The Advanced Tournament was also won by Freman College.

David Izod, President of the Rotary Club of Royston, said " It was so rewarding to see 80 students working with such concentration for over 4 hours developing and expressing their ideas and models. The Tournament provides a vital insight to the skills needed in work and for the future of our country"

Mr Hardy added: "I would like to thank the panel of judges, many of whom have supported the Tournament since its inception, and also the Technology Teachers and Heads at all the schools without whose continued support the Tournament would not take place