International accolade for F1 in schools Odyssey team
BT congratulates collaborative team from Australia and Ireland
BT Ireland has expressed its congratulations to the Odyssey team it sponsored for the 2013 World Finals of F1 in Schools, who picked up awards at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas last month.
The collaboration team, made up of students from Donabate Community College in Dublin and Brighton Secondary School in Adelaide, won ‘Best International Collaboration Team’ and ‘Best Portfolio’ at the event. Overall the team finished 6th in the world and also achieved the top mark for their pit display.
David Ganly, ICT coordinator for Donabate Community College, said, “F1 in Schools is an excellent opportunity for young students to collaborate and learn engineering, project management and ICT skills. We were delighted to have BT as a sponsor to help foster development and innovation in young people.”
Shay Walsh, managing director for Business, BT Ireland said, “On behalf of BT Ireland I would like to congratulate the Odyssey team on this wonderful achievement. BT is committed to engaging students in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) so this was a natural fit for us. BT is all about collaboration and it was an additional attraction that the team we sponsored was a partnership between two country teams.”
The F1 in Schools Technology Challenge is the world’s largest high school technology program. It involves over nine million students from 17,000 schools across 31 nations. The international program seeks to engage high school students and challenge them in the STEM subjects. The competition began in 2003 and has been expanding each year.
The competition requires teams of 3-6 members to design, manufacture, test, race and market a miniature model Formula One style car. It is propelled down a 20 meter track by a CO2 canister, reaching speeds of over 80km/h.
Most importantly, the program focuses on developing long-term employability skills. Students learn leadership, team building, project management, business planning, public speaking, marketing, collaboration, writing and presentation skills.
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