Reigning champions win the Cup

Reigning champions of the Science and Engineering Regional Challenge, Christian Outreach College (COC), proved they have some of the brightest young minds in the district last week, winning the regional Cup for the second year running.

The Toowoomba-based school beat 28 other schools over the four-day competition that was held at USQ.

Head of Science at COC Michael Bray said that the Challenge had once again provided his students with an avenue to test themselves.

'The students had a ball, they absolutely loved it,' he said.

'They all enjoyed the different activities and we were very happy to win for the second straight time and third overall.'

With less than a quarter of the team from last year in the 2007 competition, Mr Bray said that they were not sure what to expect.

'We had a new team from last year as we only had about half a dozen carry on,' he said.

'This meant that we had to start from scratch so we didn't know how we would go.

'Through each of the activities though we placed highly so consistency won it for us.'

Science and Engineering Regional Challenge event coordinator Kerry Wilkie congratulated COC and also made mention of some of the other schools.

'The overall highest score from COC for a challenge was one of the highest scores ever reached, so they did really well,' she said.

'It was also great to see some of the new schools Killarney and Jandowae win activities on the days that they were there.

'Everyone enjoyed themselves, things ran smoothly and we already have the dates booked for next year.'

COC will now compete in the Queensland Super Challenge, which will be held at Griffith University Gold Coast from 17-19 August 2007.

Toowoomba Grammar, St Peter Claver Ipswich and Wilsonton Campus (Toowoomba State High School) will also travel to the Gold Coast for the Super Challenge after they placed well at the Regional Challenge.

Date claimer: USQ will be hosting the National Science and Engineering Challenge from 17-18 October 2007 at the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628