SABRINA DEAN – Two Free State schools will be among the contenders in the digital final of the annual HIP2B² iTHINK Challenge later this month.
HIP2B² iTHINK Challenge Project Manager Riaan Tolken said Grey College Secondary School in Bloemfontein and Goudveld High School from Welkom came out tops at their respective regional events.
He said this year’s interactive challenge focussed on water conservation and even involved teachers and parents. “The whole thing around this iTHINK challenge is to stimulate their minds and brains – everything in the challenge was around everyday happenings in and around South Africa where the kids have to think out of the box a little bit to see how can we preserve water,” he said.
He said the benefits of the competition are likely to be felt many years down the line. “These kids were so inspired that I think we might have a few conservationists coming out of this group, a few maths professors, a few engineers, all different types of professional people will come out of this event,” he said.
A total of 13 schools from across the country will battle it out for top honours during a digital final on 23 August. “We will have all thirteen teams sitting around in front of a computer at 1pm and we will have an interactive round where we will actually ask them questions, do riddles with them and everyone will be able to see what the other teams are doing,” he said.
He says teams will be eliminated in each round until there is only one team leftbstanding. The final winners receive a cash prize of R15 000 for their school. In addition, one of the challenge phases included the formulation of a chocolate milk shake for Pronutro and the winning team will see their shake on the shelf by this time next year.
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