Year 12 students are waiting for their VCE results, but a handful of Braybrook students have already received the nod of approval for some of their work this year.
Three students from Caroline Chisholm Catholic College have been short listed for the annual Top Designs exhibition, showcasing the best VCE design work from across the state. James Bartolo, Bishal Shrestha and Rohan Malhotra earned recognition for their work in systems engineering.
College mathmatics head of learning Colin Chapman said it was good recognition for the work the trio had done since they started planning their pieces in January.
“It’s a fairly intense process, with many hours of work and documentation to get to this point,” Mr Chapman said.
“Systems engineering is the only design class where you get rewarded for getting things wrong, for trying things and taking a risk and employing trial and error to get the finished product.
“These three projects are the result of many dead-ends and lots of re-thinking.”
The students designed a rocket launcher and parachute that can measure speed and temperature, a Sisyphus machine that moves a marble through sand using a magnet to create drawings, and a version of the Mars rover operated by a mobile phone.
Mr Chapman said the lessons learnt from this year would stand them in good stead.
“It’s really valuable for them when they go to interviews for jobs or uni that they can really talk about them in-depth, discuss how they overcame the problems and achieved a strong result,” he said.
