3 December 2020 A term of research, prototype construction and teamwork by Year 8 Mandatory Technology students culminates in an annual bottle rocket competition day at the College. Working in teams of 3 to 5, students have to design, build and decorate bottle rockets from 1.25ml PET bottles within an hour. After an initial testing round in the morning, a small amount of time to make modifications to the design prior to the final competition will be available. If the students have an optimal design their rockets could fly up to or beyond 100 metres. Mr David Crick, the College’s Design and Technology (D&T) teacher, views the Golden Rocket competition as a means of focusing the students’ minds, giving them an understanding of how the theoretical concepts of maths and science work together in a practical way in the world in which we live. “These opportunities to design working models help the students make sense of what they learn in the classroom. Working together in a team, solving problems in a time critical setting and being fully engaged in the design process helps ignite their imagination and desire to learn.” Over the last four years Senior STEM students from the College have represented the Riverina at the Aeronautical Velocity Challenge at Wollongong University, a State-wide competition with a similar structure to the Golden Rocket Challenge. With the many disappointments of a COVID-19 year it is wonderful the students can still participate in a similar challenge within our local area. Wagga’s Daily Advertiser caught the action.