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RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION LTD
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER APR-JUN 2009 EDITION 2
career options available to them, and in in-
troducing manufacturing, engineering, design
and technology at school, in such an exciting
way, it really has changed their lives, and
mine too.” Mr Germano later said after ac-
cepting the award.
Mr Germano has had great success with his
students competing in the competition, assist-
ing them through to winning the Victorian
state finals on several occasions, culminating
in the team DASHA—The Eagle winning the
2006 National Finals.
Mr Germano’s energy and enthusiasm seems
to have no bounds, as he is also involved in a
multitude of programs and activities outside
of his primary and secondary school teach-
CELEBRATING A BIG WIN—A very happy boa-wearing Mr Michael Germano (centre) in celebratory mode,
ing. He runs VCE classes, heads up a learning
flanked by his 2006 National Final winning team, DASHA—The Eagle from Laverton Secondary College, con- community literacy team teaching science,
gratulated by a feathery Mr Craig Hingston (REA) and Mr Tim McKay (Victoria University) at back–right. numeracy, reading, writing and speaking,
and he is the coordinator of LavNet, the
HONOURING AN to inspire future generations to become world Laverton Network, which is a network of pri-
leaders in manufacturing. mary and secondary science departments
INSPIRATIONAL EDUCATOR
The 2009 recipient, Mr Michael Germano, is from schools in the Laverton region. As well as
At the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame a Chemistry Science teacher at Laverton Sec- running the F1 in Schools program.
Gala Dinner, held at Melbourne’s Crown Ca- ondary College where he has taught for 18
sino on the 11th May, the REA John Button The Award is named in honour and memory of the
of his 23 year teaching career. late The Hon. John Button, who, as the Patron of
Award was presented to Mr Michael Ger-
mano of Laverton Secondary College, in Since his involvement in the REA F1 in Schools the REA Foundation, saw the potential impact that
front of an audience of over 600 manufac- Challenge, both he and his students have the F1 in Schools program would have for
turing industry leaders. gained enormous benefits from the ‘real younger generations, giving them the knowledge
world’ industry-paralleled project work. and confidence to pursue engineering and manu-
This award is a perpetual honour awarded to facturing industry-related careers.
an educator in recognition of their exceptional “I have had an amazing journey since the F1
leadership and inspiration in developing and in Schools Challenge was implemented at our Our warmest congratulations go to Michael
encouraging manufacturing education in Victo- school in 2004. It has given me and my stu- Germano for this wonderful achievement,
ria. The award is aimed at encouraging educa- dents opportunities that we never would’ve and wishing him the best of luck (and en-
tors in High Schools, VET or TAFE environments dreamed of. I just want kids to see all of the ergy!) to continue the great work.
TEAM BIO-HAZARD RECEIVE Megarrity was able to raise
UNEXPECTED FUNDING BOOST the issue with the Premier’s
office, which received imme-
Team Bio-Hazard, the Apprentice Class Na- diate approval. The resulting
tional Champions in the F1 in Schools Challenge funding was an unexpected
from Menai High School received a visit from but extremely appreciative
NSW Premier Nathan Rees MP on Friday 15th windfall for the team.
May - with an unexpected gift.
Premier Rees and Ms Megar-
Upon hearing of their winning achievement at rity enjoyed a morning of ex-
the National Final last year in Canberra, Pre- ploring the achievements of
mier Rees presented the team with a cheque team Bio-Hazard and came to
of $5,500 to assist in their preparations to understand the program and
attend the World Championships in London technologies involved further
later this year. as the students explained their
Local Member for Menai, Ms Alison Megar-
SMILES FOR BIO-HAZARD — NSW Premier Rees & Ms Megarrity
F1 in Schools project work and BIG with Team Bio-Hazard and teaching staff at Menai High School.
MP
rity MP heard of Bio-Hazard’s achievements raced the cars down the track.
and approached the team through a parent The Bio-Hazard team will be travelling with
asking if she could be of assistance. The initial RedLine Racing to the UK in September as they Championship Winners, (and apprentice team)
request for obtaining Australian and State represent Australia at the World Champion- The Stingers, means they are in good company
flags as part of their World Championship ships. Australia’s spectacularly impressive track as they prepare their project work and fast cars
campaign was escalated further when Ms record at this event, including 2006 World to take on the world.
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION
Level 9, 423 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills NSW 2120 Australia
PO Box 389, Pennant Hills NSW 1715
Phone: 1300 554 503 or +61 2 9842 9512 | Facsimile: +61 2 9980 8722
contact@rea.org.au | www.rea.org.au
National Sponsor
imagine
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION LTD
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER APR-JUN 2009 EDITION 2
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? DANIEL: I’m half way through a Bachelor of Me-
chanical Engineering at the Queensland University
In 2004, two bright young students from two of Technology. I’ve taken a year off and am cur-
different states were brought together and rently working full-time for REA as the Projects
created Australia’s first team to compete in Support Coordinator responsible for technology
the World Championships as Team THUNDER and training implementation at hub schools across
FROM DOWN UNDER. Working collabora- Queensland.
tively for a few short weeks and only meet-
ing mere days before jetting off to the UK to What are your future plans?
compete, we ask the hard questions to ROCHELLE: I think I'm a fairly typical Uni student
ROCHELLE CALF and DANIEL BRYAN- as I don't really consider my long term future at
CURNOW, including: the moment — one project, assignment or exam at
GREEN & GOLD: Daniel and Rochelle in team a time. But ultimately I would like to be working as
WHERE ARE YOU NOW AND an industrial designer somewhere in the world.
uniform at the World Championships, UK.
HOW DID YOU GET THERE...? DANIEL: After this year, I head back to my en-
Where were you when you first got involved choices. Prior to taking part in F1 in Schools, I gineering degree. Once that is completed, I'll
in F1 in Schools, what attracted you to it and did not appreciate what being an engineer consider further education beyond the Bach. of
how did you get involved? was about...digging holes? Engineering—unsure what at this stage.
ROCHELLE: I was first introduced to the F1 in What was the highlight of your REA involve- COLLABORATING FOR TEAM
Schools Design Challenge in year 10 at Chel- ment at school?
tenham Girls High School (NSW). I was learn- THUNDER DOWN UNDER
ROCHELLE: Through the program, I was able to
ing how to use CAD programs in a technical travel and compete overseas twice, first with ROCHELLE: Paul Bray (REA General Manager)
drawing class. My teacher, Mr Wilson, signed Thunder Down Under, and then with Brisk in gave a presentation in Noosa and Daniel being
up a few of my classmates and myself to Pink. The experience I had with competing over- the very cluey guy he is, answered all the ques-
learn how to use CATIA and to eventually seas and the skills I obtained with learning CA- tions about CATIA and I think stumped Paul on a
form a team to compete in the challenge. TIA, working in a team and mixing with industry couple of occasions! I was really interested, and I
DANIEL: I was in year 10 in 2004 when have been very valuable to me, but ultimately think I was in the right place at the right time and
choices for 'extra-curricular' classes came up. winning the Most Innovative Car Design in the together we were chosen to be Team Australia.
F1 in Schools was an interesting name for a world, two years in a row, was pretty amazing, To collaborate across the distance between
class, but beyond that I did not know a lot and quite a highlight! Noosa and Sydney, we were taught how to use
about Formula One. DANIEL: Meeting and chatting to top engineers WebEx so we could share our design ideas and
I had an interest in IT and computing through from around the world at European CATIA Fo- present to each other the work we had com-
the end of primary and high school, however rum in France in 2004, right at the perfect time pleted so far. We also communicated through
living in the middle of nowhere it wasn't easy to assist me with Senior School Subject choices. an online chat room as I tended to be out play-
to get the latest and greatest technology, ing sports most nights of the week, this made it
which is what caught my eye in the F1 class, a hard to ring each other as our family members
BEST ENGINEERED CAR 2004 were usually in bed!
move that has really payed off.
Did the program influence your decision with We only had six weeks to design, test and
your chosen study/career path? manufacture the car, and we met face to face
for the first time a day or so before we left.
ROCHELLE: Through competing in the F1 in
Schools project I was exposed to design and Daniel and I read through our verbal presentation
manufacturing. I used this in my year 12 major together for the first time on the flight over. We
design and technology project. I was able to both put in a lot of after school hours to make sure
identify design problems and make changes that everything was completed in time.
before the manufacture stage. This saved me a The highlights of this trip and project were seeing
lot of time and money! My MDP (major design the look on the American’s faces when they real-
project) was something I was really excited ised we had machined our car from the bottom!
about and so I decided I would look into study- And then there was winning ‘Best Engineered
ing design at Uni. The F1 in Schools project Car’ and ‘3rd Place Outright’, also presenting our
definitely helped me to choose design as a What are you doing now? car and REA’s project to the world’s leading com-
career path as before I began the competition I ROCHELLE: Currently I am studying Industrial panies in France and getting to travel half way
was considering aviation. Design at the University of Western Sydney. I across the world without my family at the age of
DANIEL: It certainly influenced my career also work part time with REA. 16. The trip and the experience of the whole
competition was amazing!
DIARY DATES
STATE FINALS: WA—4 SEPT SA—17 SEPT NSW—1-2 OCT TAS—7 OCT QLD—12-13 OCT ACT—29 OCT VIC—TBD
NATIONAL FINALS: 16-18 NOV (TBC)
Continue to check www.f1inschools.org.au for updates, venues and locations.
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION
Level 9, 423 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills NSW 2120 Australia
PO Box 389, Pennant Hills NSW 1715
Phone: 1300 554 503 or +61 2 9842 9512 | Facsimile: +61 2 9980 8722
contact@rea.org.au | www.rea.org.au
National Sponsor
imagine
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION LTD
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER APR-JUN 2009 EDITION 2
14 000 KMS AWAY… Woitowicz, Head of Department at Miles ference style voice communication, video con-
MacDonnell Collegiate, a secondary school in ferencing, desktop application sharing and
When parts of Canada are sleeping, namely Winnipeg, Canada. David was in roughly the much more. We scheduled several meetings
Winnipeg in Manitoba Provence, Noosa same position that I had been in back in to discuss team structure, but more impor-
NSW is wide awake—and working. And 2004 when I first started teaching F1 in tantly to arrange ways to fast track the shar-
none more so than half of the Australian- Schools, that is, full of hope and enthusiasm but ing of knowledge that we had gained over
Canadian collaborative team working fever- short on experience and knowledge. David five years of involvement in F1 in Schools with
ishly to be ready for the World Champion- wanted to break into the competition and had David’s students.
ships in September a group of year 11 students willing to form One morning I was able to sit at my desk at
Veteran members of The Bullets, runner-up teams but his dilemma was to choose just three home and run CATIA on my laptop computer
National Champions in 2006, 2007 and to complement the four members of The Bullets with David watching at his home in Winnipeg.
2008, are lending their considerable knowl- team giving us the minimum numbers required to There was a short lag of about 15 seconds but
edge and experience to a group of new- form a world championship team. David was able to watch me design and ma-
comers to the F1 in Schools Challenge, and chine a virtual F1 car using all of the techniques
are determined that the distance between that my students and I had developed over five
them won’t be the thing to beat them! years. There was an eerie feeling that David
But to understand how the students from differ- was just sitting in another room in my house!
ent countries, backgrounds and time zones came A week later, we scheduled a meeting be-
to be team mates, it means stepping back a tween all seven members of the newly
few years and introducing a few key charac- formed Aus/Can collaboration team. I rushed
ters that have enabled this venture to happen. out and purchased a webcam, weaseled a
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION & disused classroom with a phone and data
F1 IN SCHOOLS FROM connection and set up my laptop with a
A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE - speaker phone balanced on some books near
Mr. MARK PRESLING a hastily arranged set of chairs.
“Late in 2003, I returned to work after taking This was great! We waved to each other, dis-
eight weeks long service leave. As soon as I cussed the weather, (freezing rain in Canada,
walked into my staff room my eager colleagues bushfires and floods in Australia) and thrashed
told me about this cool new software that they out a team name. We were to be known as AC
had heard about called CATIA. I was shown how Racing. The inspiration for the name came from
to boot it up and as I began checking out the inter- the classic AC/DC rock song ‘High Voltage’.
face, my eager colleagues quietly backed out of Interestingly it was one of the Canadian team
the room leaving me alone with what would soon members who asked if we had ever heard of
take up a large chunk of my life over the next six AC/DC and did we think they were cool? (!)
years! Although I could not get the software to We quickly realised that NDSHS
draw anything like a model F1 car I was capti- had a unique opportunity to pass on thou-
vated by the scope and complexity of the pro-
gramme and before I knew it, I became the F1 in
sands of hours of collective knowledge to
Schools Coordinator at NDSHS. LONDON BOUND: The Bullets in full uniform our Canadian counterparts.
In 2008 I coached five teams of enthusiastic in front of their impressive stand at the In just six weeks the Canadian team learned
students in what I consider to be the greatest National Final in Canberra 2008 how to use CATIA, how to use the ‘Spec Model’
innovation in technology education in my 31 tool that The Bullets and I had developed, and
year career of teaching students the craft of how to make use of some of the materials and
“making stuff”. Two of those teams competed at After an initial phone call between David, techniques that we had found to be effective in
the State Championships and both qualified to Paul Bray and myself, we committed to pro- shedding car weight and improving perform-
represent Queensland in professional class of ceed with the rather daunting task of col- ance of wheels and bearings.
racing at the National Championships. One of laborating across roughly 14,000km and 15 I must qualify this by saying that we are very
the teams, ‘The Bullets’, had competed two hours of time difference. It soon became fortunate to have a wide range of support ma-
years previously at the National Finals and had clear that the time difference alone terials developed by REA and ready access to
(sadly) placed second outright at both events. would make for some interesting meet- expert engineers and mentors employed by
But out of such disappointment, they were ing schedules. At 08:30 Sunshine Coast Concentric Asia Pacific. On occasions my stu-
thrown a lifeline. A collaboration team was to time it was around 16:30 on the previous dents and I have spoken to engineers at GKN,
be formed between The Bullets and a Cana- day in Winnipeg. the Australian arm of the Joint Strike Fighter
dian team with the goal of competing at the project, Hawker De Havilland, Toyota gurus,
In Australia we’re very fortunate to have light aircraft manufacturers, Jabiru and many
World Championships in London, 2009. So
access to WebEx and in particular the Meet- others. These opportunities almost never happen
earlier this year, Paul Bray, General Man-
ing Centre application which allowed for in the mainstream education system.
ager of REA, contacted us to introduce David
scheduled virtual meetings which utilised con-
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION
Level 9, 423 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills NSW 2120 Australia
PO Box 389, Pennant Hills NSW 1715
Phone: 1300 554 503 or +61 2 9842 9512 | Facsimile: +61 2 9980 8722
contact@rea.org.au | www.rea.org.au
National Sponsor
imagine
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION LTD
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER APR-JUN 2009 EDITION 2
Students from Winnipeg, Canada and Noosa, QLD join forces across the miles to form AC Racing
I believe that this is the final chapter in their jour- aging the distribution of labour etc., however I confident that this will be the enduring memory
ney through the F1 in Schools experience so many see an opportunity to share in a cultural and for Scott, Dean, Lucas, James, Ben, Stephanie
years of competing. I am constantly impressed by engineering exchange, the benefits of which and Crawford.
the willingness of former competitors to share their are independent of any success in the competi- I have come to see the real value of the F1
knowledge and expertise with younger and less tion we are preparing for. In short, we are
experienced ‘greenhorns’. keeping our eyes on the BIG PICTURE.
in Schools culture. It is an education in it-
self. If this was all students ever learned at
So, we have been moving forward with new A bond was formed very early on in the project school they would enjoy it and they would
design innovations and testing of ideas. We can between our two countries and I am looking
see a direction but at the same time we have to forward to seeing the interaction between all
give 110% to make it happen!
be careful not to be seen to be driving or con- the team members when we meet up in London. Mark Presling is a Senior Teacher in the Industrial
trolling the project. Our other main hurdle is Regardless of the outcome of the competition, Technology Dept at Noosa District SHS with 31
“the tyranny of distance” (and time). There are the common purpose and spirit of cooperation years teaching experience. He is also a Champion
at times grumblings about the burden of man- will be the big ticket item for me and I feel for REA F1 in Schools and all round good bloke.
The Razorbacks spent time in the Renault F1 pits and spoke
with Technical Director, Pat Symmonds (above).
THE RAZORBACKS AT THE MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX
Being the creators of the Fastest Car at the Na- Razorbacks from Pine Rivers State High School, Victorian Government.
tional Finals comes with a few perks—smashing QLD last year for creating a car that set a blister- Another ‘treat’ was access to Renault F1’s ga-
and setting new national and world records, the ing pace that shattered the one second barrier rage, meeting with engineers and Technical
respect and awe of your competing peers (and and all speed records known to F1 in Schools. Director, Pat Symmonds to get a few pointers
the envy for setting the bar so high) and being The 4-day pass to the Melbourne Grand Prix on how to make a fast car even faster! But with
the recipient of the prize; TICKETS TO THE gave the team access to some amazing op- their insider knowledge, will the Razorbacks be
GRAND PRIX! portunities, including attending a Williams F1 the ones to beat in 2009?
This great prize, donated by REA and the Technical Briefing, presented by Technical And next question is, who will be there next year?
Grand Prix Corporation was awarded to The Director, Sam Michael and hosted by the
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION
Level 9, 423 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills NSW 2120 Australia
PO Box 389, Pennant Hills NSW 1715
Phone: 1300 554 503 or +61 2 9842 9512 | Facsimile: +61 2 9980 8722
contact@rea.org.au | www.rea.org.au
National Sponsor
imagine
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION LTD
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER APR-JUN 2009 EDITION 2
of the project displays, and could barely The Avalon Airshow is just one of many opportu-
believe that ‘school kids’ did the work. nities that the REA takes throughout the year to
The stream of people didn’t stop at all over exhibit the work of the students and communi-
the six day event, and the interactive nature cate the F1 in Schools program to a wider pub-
of the display had people commenting that it lic, and REA sincerely thanks the teachers and
was the highlight of the exhibition space. students who generously volunteer their time to
assist in these events. Thank you!
It was also a highlight for team Basilisk Per-
formance Racing (previously Impulse Racing) REDLINE RACING PRESENT
from Sebastopol College, who travelled TO THE TOP BRASS OF DMO
down from Ballarat to be REA F1 in Schools
Ambassadors for the day. The 2008 National Champions of the F1 in
Schools Technology Challenge, RedLine Rac-
It may have been a day off school, but the ing, made a presentation to DMO manage-
Avalon Airshow 2009: The F16 Falcon students worked hard all day with the public. ment – a first for all involved.
Team members Aidan Cowie, Brett Sizeland,
Warren Mahomet, Benjamin Kersten and At the request of Dr Stephen Gumley, CEO of
AVALON AIRSHOW 2009 teacher, Mr. Christof Muller, spoke to hun- the Defence Material Organisation, Canberra
dreds of people and confidently explained based RedLine Racing were invited along to
The 2009 Avalon Airshow took place from 10- make a presentation to the DMO management
15 March in the dry and dusty paddock next to the processes and goals of the competition,
and elaborated on their own project work team who gather together once a year.
Avalon Airport, just north of Geelong, VIC. At
the end of the week though, as is Melbourne’s which lead them to participating in the Na- The purpose was to brief and inform the multid-
usual characteristic, it was 4 seasons in one day tional Finals last year. isciplinary and widely located management of
and much needed rain dampened down the the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge. And
dust, turned the dirt to mud—and spirits lifted, what better way than seeing the current Austra-
especially the Victorians’. lian champions in action—far more impressive
(and interesting) than another power point!
REA had a presence on the DMO (Defence
Materiel Organisation) stand, and was This unique opportunity was hailed as, “a great
manned for the week by the REA team and a success” and “incredibly impressive” by REA Foun-
small team of teachers and students from der Michael Myers who attended with the team.
Sebastopol College and Bentleigh Secondary “The presentation went exceptionally well.
College who have both been involved in the The kids impressed the ‘top brass’ of the
F1 in Schools Challenge in previous years. DMO with their excellent presentation skills,
REA had 10m of the usual 20m race track set their knowledge and their confidence. Many
READY TO RACE - Visiting Victorian school students couldn’t believe that high school kids could
up through the middle of the stand and hun-
test their reaction times at the race track starting gates. produce that level of work, and those not so
dreds of CO2 bulbs (soda stream cartridges)
were used as interested and excited passer- The team said, “Our participation at the Ava- familiar with REA and F1 in Schools walked
byers stopped to hear about the F1 in lon Air Show was a great experience. We away impressed, very enthusiastic and with a
Schools program and to test their reflex times were able to advertise the program to a far greater understanding,” he said.
at the starting gates. larger audience, while enjoying the sights and “And the kids gained a lot out of it too. Al-
Many people were genuinely amazed at the sounds of the Airshow itself. This was a great though they present very, very well, an oppor-
high level of work, complexity, thoroughness day, as we were able to share our experi- tunity such as this allowed them to practice in
of research and the professional presentation ences with students and businesses from front of a very difference audience. They didn’t
around Victoria and beyond, seem phased at all by speaking to such a large
TALKING THE TALK FOR REA AT THE AVALON AIRSHOW urging them to get involved and (50+) and important group of people and had
Basilisk Performance Racing, Sebastopol College L-R: Aidan Cowie, to participate. no problem chatting with the top civil and de-
Brett Sizeland, Warren Mahomet & Benjamin Kersten.
As a team, we would like to thank fence leaders in the country over lunch. I was
REA and the DMO for this amaz- very proud of them,” said Mr Myers.
ing opportunity. This is an experi- If the RedLine Racing team used this opportu-
ence we all will not forget for a nity to practice their presentation in readiness
long time and would definitely for the World Championships, they have
like to participate in again.” been given yet another rather extraordinary
Their teacher, Mr. Muller added, chance to share their award winning work, as
“We all had a fantastic time. well as hone their skills. An invitation was ex-
The students really opened up tended to the team to present at the D + I
and enhanced their communi- (Defence + Industry) Conference in Adelaide
cation skills throughout the next month front of an audience of 1500
day, so much so they didn’t want people. Wow!
to leave!”
RE-ENGINEERING AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION
Level 9, 423 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills NSW 2120 Australia
PO Box 389, Pennant Hills NSW 1715
Phone: 1300 554 503 or +61 2 9842 9512 | Facsimile: +61 2 9980 8722
contact@rea.org.au | www.rea.org.au
National Sponsor
