The Whakarongo Technics showed tenacity and teamwork as they competed against fifteen other teams at Monrad Intermediate on Tuesday night. The team constructed a giant marble run. The marble had to turn three corners and then make a drop of 30cm before hitting a sensor and setting off another large marble back at the start. The team showed perseverance and trouble shooting skills as they first constructed their solution and then added in the electronic components. Their final challenge of the evening then involved them creating an electronic seesaw. The marble had to move back and forward on the seesaw three times before then continuing around the run. Nathan was the chief engineer and worked hard to manage the marble on the seesaw - but I was so proud of him as he handed the controls to Aidan to try when the fine handling and the pressure of time were against the team. Luckily, Aidan was able to manipulate the controls he had designed and the team earned the points needed to keep them safe and through to the Grand Final - while avoiding very stressful sudden death challenge that the fourth place-getters had to go through. This showed tremendous maturity from the team. They were swift and focussed and supportive of each other under pressure.
Charlotte and Olivia were excellent in maintaining a strong, steady pace with construction, listening, actioning requests and checking on both time and challenge details. This left Aidan free to master the electronics - which the team cannot practice with before hand. It also allowed Nathan freedom to design the challenge solutions, restructure areas that needed tweaking and plan ahead to the next portion of the challenge. The team knew their roles and fitted them together seamlessly. Outstanding work!
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