Northern Cape Technical High School has won top positions at the provincial SAICE building competition. After coming third at the nationals last year, learners are hoping to bring home first place this year.

“The team that won is very excited to compete at nationals. They have been working very hard, and they are very motivated this year and have high expectations for themselves,” said deputy principal and facilitator, Lene Geyer.

The team that won first place and will be going to the national competition are: Kago Dirapedi, Tony Bristow and Deuzé fembers, their bridge carried 218.2 kg before failure took place. Both the bridges were made from 25 4 mm x mm meranti sticks with a total length of 780 mm.

The team who came second were the girl’s team: Letshego Macomo, Kea Lekwene and Outlwile Mohlakoana, their bridge carried 88.2 kg before failure took place.

“Our school enters this competition every year,” said Geyer. “Our learners love participating in this competition because it offers them a lot of opportunities in the Technical and Engineering fields.

The second place winners for SAICE Bridge building. Picture: Facebook

“Every year is different, because the organisers give different specifications or constraints for every competition, and learners do not know what the specifications are before the competition starts.”

Geyer said the learners are interested in participating in this specific competition and take it seriously, and this specific competition gives them a lot of experience and exposure in their fields of interest. They are always looking for other competitions to participate in to expose learners in all different available fields.

The national competition will be in August in Gauteng.

OFM News/Casey-Lee Anthony dg