The students of Balwearie High School won the Regional Final of the 2023 RTX Quadcopter Challenge held at St Columba’s RC High School.
Now in its eighth year, the RTX Quadcopter Challenge, supported by Culture of Enterprise, brought together S2 students from various Fife high schools, including Balwearie, St Columba’s RC, Queen Anne, Bell Baxter, and Levenmouth Academy. Working in teams, students designed and constructed a Quadcopter with guidance from Raytheon UK STEM Ambassadors, aiming to support emergency response.
After presenting their designs including costing and highlighting their teamworking skills to the judging panel, which included representatives from Raytheon UK, Fife Council, SSERC, and Brockwell Energy, the pupils then proved their flying skills ability and their concept as they took on a challenging obstacle course.
Alison Sinclair from Fife Council’s Economic Development team (Culture of Enterprise) remarked: “Programmes like the RTX Quadcopter Challenge play a crucial role in nurturing a culture that values and encourages enterprise, while promoting awareness and skills development in STEM careers.
“Our sincere congratulations go to the Balwearie Flyers of Balwearie High School – we wish them the best of luck for the National Final. The judging panel was extremely impressed with the calibre of presentations and designs this year, and we extend our gratitude for their support in attending this year’s event.”
Sam Hutton, Raytheon UK, STEM Site Lead for Glenrothes “Another successful year of the Quadcopter Challenge! This year’s challenge was to look at ways to support the emergency services and after seeing some of the great ideas and innovations on the quadcopters I believe we are in good hands with the next generation of engineers.”
The Balwearie Flyers will now advance to the National Final on 13 December representing their school and displaying their impressive designs.
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