Generally Newsworthy

It was an electrifying finish between our two 19-hour trial winners, Bendigo Senior Secondary College’s (BSSC) Earth Mover and Peninsula Human Power’s Hare & Forbes  in the final minutes of the 2022 Energy Breakthrough. Despite representing different categories (EEV Single power source and HPV Open categories respectively), there wasn’t much between these two teams throughout the duration of the event. A particularly impressive feat for Hare & Forbes given the absence of an external power source!

The Energy Breakthrough is more than just an event. We’ve heard time and time again about the impact it’s made on young people’s lives. How it’s helped them get through high school, make life-long friends, inspired their career choices, and even start their own community teams so they can continue the racing long after their last Maryborough checked flag has been flown. 

In a pilot program consisting of just four schools, we asked participants to work together to code and navigate a Sphero Bolt Robot to perform a series of complex tasks in a set of three challenges.

Secondary schools have a new option this year: submitting a 'Video Display & Presentation' rather than completing their 'in-person' presentation on-site at the event. Read more from Display & Presentation coordinator, Laurie Preston, on this new initiative.

For a number of years we have been pondering the potential of robotics in the Energy Breakthrough. This year we have invited four teams - two Secondary and two Primary - to compete in the first Robotics Demonstration Challenge.  We plan for this to become an open event in 2023 with a number of Coding / Robotics Professional Development sessions being run around the state of Victoria to encourage more schools to get involved.

Our Energy Breakthrough Explainer Webinar series has been delivered for 2022, offering a great introduction for new schools and a refresher for people who are 'not so new' to the program. The challenge for the Country Education Partnership team through this session is answering that sometimes tricky question: What IS the Energy Breakthrough?