04 March 2021
Last year, our team consisting of William Barone, Darren Nguyen, Gunin Singhal, Archie Goodson and Rohan Thiru undertook the REA Subs in Schools challenge under the team name ‘Nautilus 2K20’.
This STEM-focused program was run by Re-engineering Australia, the Department of Defence and other stakeholders in this industry. Bringing career relevance to STEM learning, the program promotes innovation in hydrodynamics and entrepreneurship skills among participants. Through the competition, we developed skills such as marketing, collaborating with industry to find sponsors, engineering and designing, planning, wiring and soldering. More importantly, we developed our teamwork, communication, problem-solving and time management skills.
Having participated once before, a change in our approach to the challenge saw us achieve our goals of performing well at the state finals. Ultimately, we placed 2nd in South Australia and 8th in Australia, producing the Best Engineered and Manufactured remote operated vehicle (ROV) and received the Outstanding Industry Collaboration Award in the Professional Class. Pleasingly, our 2nd place came despite being unable to compete in the underwater ‘sea trials’ competition, as the event was held in December after School had finished with a number of the boys in the team involved in Rowing camp commitments.
In reflection, I would highly recommend the Subs in Schools Competition as our experiences have developed our practical skills that apply to STEM, later life and future career pathways. We would like to thank Ms Carmen Bester for her work in the initial stages of the program and Mr Brian Wong who voluntarily took on the program after Ms Bester’s departure.
Rohan Thiru
Team Manager