Learners from John Vorster Technical High School each took home a Lexmark 3 in 1 printer after being placed first in the Electrical Engineering competition to design and build a microbug that was organised and sponsored by the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. The prizes were sponsored by Pinnacle Micro-computers.

Zelda Janse van Rensburg, Faculty Marketer for Engineering and the Built Environment, said the competition went very well.” The learners were brilliant and they proved themselves”, she said excitedly. Fourteen schools in Pretoria challenged one another on their expertise.

The competition is designed to engage students in hands-on, real-world projects to help them understand how the skills they learn in the classroom can be applied in everyday life. Through this type of problem-based activity, students learn how to work as contributing members of a team, manage time and resources, go beyond the classroom for answers, and understand the potential impact their ideas and products could have on society.

In the Department of Building Science competition, Montana High School took the first prize, while Sutherland High took the first place in Architecture. The Civil Engineering Department crowned the Oos Moot High School as the winner. The John Vorster Technical High School won the first prize in the Electrical and F’Satie Lego model competition. The Hercules and Oos Moot high schools came first in the Chemical and Mechanical competitions, respectively. All the learners received freebees as a consolation prize.

Zelda explained that such competitions helped prospective students to be aware of the importance of mathematics and science and also of the different fields offered in engineering at TUT.