PICTURES: Young Engineers shine at Coláiste Choilm in STEMulate your mind competition

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Coláiste Choilm in Tullamore welcomed 6th class students from 18 local schools to take part in the STEMulate your Mind Bridge Building competition recently. 

A total of 52 teams participated in the event as students were eager to showcase their creativity and engineering skills. 

Students were tasked with the challenge of building a bridge using only the materials provided which consisted of five sheets of A4 and A3 paper, a roll of masking tape, scissors and string. 

Each team was given just one hour to complete their structures aiming to win one of two categories - The Longest Bridge or Best Structural Design. 

Students from each team worked efficiently in tandem demonstrating technical skill, innovation and teamwork with their creations being carefully evaluated by a professional structural engineer who served as the judge.

Beyond the bridge-building contest, students also enjoyed a range of Stem-themed activities including an aerial drone challenge, VEX robotics and immersive experiences with VR headsets.

Speaking at the event, TD for Offaly, John Clendennen expressed strong support for STEM education and global competitions saying: "The future generation can achieve their dreams if we all do our best". 

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Mucklagh school took home the top prize in the Longest Bridge category with Educate Together coming in runners-up. Meanwhile in the Best Design category, Croghan School emerged victorious with Mucklagh school finishing in second place.

Croghan School's Best Design winning-team consisting of Kayla, Elsie, Amelia and Ava spoke about their preparation behind the victory explaining: "We tried many designs and practiced for an hour every day, We didn't fully know what materials we were going to get but each person had their own job"

Six of the eight winners of the competition were female. It's a promising sign of increasing female representation in STEM which has been an area historically dominated by men. 

Events like this in Coláiste Choilm can play a big part in inspiring and empowering young girls to pursue STEM careers. 

The event concluded with the announcement of next year's challenge which will be to build the tallest free-standing tower - a task sure to spark more creativity and innovation amongst the brightest young minds.